Monk

Halloween has passed. I, myself, am usually inclined to wait until after Thanksgiving before celebrating Christmas, but I'm feeling festive in an LJ kind of way, and I want to break out my Christmas icon. I've also found Elvis' "Merry Christmas, Baby". So, you know, rock-n-roll.



The full, extended version:

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“Are you willing ... to own, that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness ... to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings ...? Then you can keep Christmas.”

-- Henry van Dyke

I'm glad to see that Maureen Dowd is still posting during the holiday season, though I see she is resorting to the ol' copy & paste style, heh.

xXx

How busy are the mail jeeps and vans on this Christmas eve!
That such sentiment thrives helps the world taste sweet.

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Heh, I was recently in a discussion about the risks of posting Internet news, regarding that science story about the speed of human evolution. Media outlets like to put out fascinating stuff and do it quickly, and we naturally like to use it. But that opens up the news reporting to a lot more errors.

This morning, interestingly enough, I learn that I have gotten burned again from a news story. Recall that story about how Santas in Australia are instructed not to say "Ho ho ho" because it is an insult to women? It turns out that this is another story that is too fascinating to be true.

The Santas were not instructed to refrain from saying "ho ho ho". Rather, they are advised to be mindful of how the children are receiving their act, because they have found that small children sometimes get frightened by a loud and booming "ho ho ho!" The Santas were merely instructed to modulate their voice in sensitivity to their audience.

That's life in the blogging business! It's an occupational hazard. But, again, this is the life I chose. It is the risk I assume. I have to live life on the edge, or else I don't feel like I'm living.


(Source: Snopes.com)

xXx

The flirty duet "Baby, It's Cold Outside" keeps playing in my head.

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Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

-- AFP

If you want something nice for Christmas, come sit on my lap and tell me about it. Maybe we can work something out. Ponies don't grow on trees, you know!

xXx

♠
I was going to wait until the day after Thanksgiving,
but after hearing Elvis get down with "Merry Christmas, Baby",
I think now is a good time to break out the Christmas icon,
because I'm feeling very, very merry,
baby.

xXx

♠
“Ejecting Christmas from the public domain makes little sense, and not simply because religion only partly contributed to its emergence as a national rite. It should be possible to enjoy Christmas while recognizing its muted Christian element, even though one is neither religious nor Christian, in much the same way one might enjoy the glories of a Botticelli or Fra Angelico in spite of the unrelenting Christian presence in their art. In much the same way, indeed, that one might enjoy jazz, another gift of the mainstream, without much caring for black culture; or the American English language that unites us, in spite of Anglo-Saxon roots that are as deep as those of Father Christmas.”

-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times

That works for me! But then I am biased in favor of all things Christmas, and, Lord knows, I am not even a Christian, or at least certainly not a good one. Besides, we can always use a little forced good cheer.

xXx