The Art of the Christmas Truce

Ninety-nine years ago today, something strange happened on the Western Front: It fell silent. World War I had only just erupted that summer, but the fighting had already proven fierce, claiming nearly a million lives. On December 24, 1914, however, an estimated 100,000 soldiers, mainly British and German troops, laid down their guns, left the trenches, and mingled in the frigid cold of No Man's Land to mark Christmas—an uplifting if surreal moment in an otherwise soul-crushing war.

"All I'd heard for two months in the trenches was the hissing, cracking and whining of bullets in flight, machinegun fire and distant German voices," Alfred Anderson, a British veteran and the last survivor of the Christmas Truce, recalled in 2004. "But there was a dead silence that morning, right across the land as far as you could see. We shouted 'Merry Christmas', even though nobody felt merry. The silence ended early in the afternoon and the killing started again. It was a short peace in a terrible war."

Elsewhere on the Western Front, the celebrations were more exuberant and long-lasting, involving everything from impromptu soccer games to spirited renditions of "Silent Night" to free haircuts by a British machine gunner. On December 30, The New York Times republished a bubbly letter from a British soldier that captured the mood well:

We exchanged souvenirs: I got a German ribbon and photo of the Crown Prince of Bavaria. The Germans opposite us were awfully decent fellows—Saxons, intelligent, respectable-looking men. I had quite a decent talk with three or four and have two names and addresses in my notebook.

It was the strangest scene you could imagine—going out unarmed to meet our enemies, also unarmed. After our talk I really think a lot of our newspaper reports must be horribly exaggerated. Of course, these men were Saxons—not Prussians.

Full Story HERE VIA The Atlantic

A Baby has more expensive shoes then you....."personalised Christian Dior baby booties"

Christmas has come early! North West is showered with expensive gifts from Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's designer pals

Read more via DailyMail

She's only six months old but North West’s designer wardrobe will soon rival her mother Kim Kardashian's. 

The famous tot – whose father is Kanye West – received a slew of early Christmas presents from world famous designers and Kim took to Instagram and Twitter to share pictures and gushingly thank her benefactors. 

Stella McCartney, Giuseppe Zanotti, Charlotte Olympia and Hermes Paris all sent expensive, and in some cases, custom made, gifts to North.

Kim also shared a picture of a £105 pair of Hermes pink cashmere booties and a £240 knitted cotton baby blanket with the message: 'Thank you Michael Coste and Hermes Paris for the sweet gift for North! (sic).'

Stella McCartney sent three onesies for the youngster, which all retail for more than £60 while Charlotte Olympia, whose adult size Kitty shoes sell for £425, sent a child sized pair for North. 

Kim wrote 'Thank you so much Stella for these adorable clothes for Nori!' and 'Thank you Charlotte for the cutest kitty shoes for North! Xo (sic).'

Kim and Kanye welcomed North, affectionately known as 'Nori', into the world on June 15, and the pampered tot was quickly showered with a whole host of designer gifts.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z - Kanye's best pal - reportedly took along a staggering £5,000 worth of gifts on their first meeting with the little one, including a pair of personalised Christian Dior baby booties and a three-piece sterling silver Elsa Peretti Padova baby set.

These 28 Kids Are Not Sure Who This Santa Claus Guy Is, But He Is Definitely Terrifying

All photo goodness here via consumerist.com

Is Santa real? Kids discuss his existence and more

Look, it's complicated.

Kids of bygone eras might have believed in Santa Claus because it was customary. They might have believed because it's just what you did.

But for kids today, blind faith only goes so far.

Broach the subject of Santa, and it's possible you could have a philosophical argument on your hands. We spoke to kids who pointed to technological advancements as evidence for Santa Claus rather than against (his surveillance now being a simple matter of installation). In one case, a particularly spirited 11-year-old formed an interpretation of Santa Claus that came astonishingly close to quantum physics.

And then others don't believe at all.

It's a question that divides houses and splits classrooms. The best of friends fall on separate sides of a line that goes all the way to the North Pole (or nowhere at all).

One thing is common: Kids aren't afraid to talk about their beliefs and disbeliefs, or those of their siblings and classmates. As 10-year-old Estefani Garcia told us, “Anyone can believe or not believe in Santa Claus.”

It's the why and how that matters here.

more here via Omaha

Xmas Miracle Detroit Edition - No reported murders or shootings for span of 41 hours

DETROIT (AP) - Detroit has a day-and-a-half streak of no reported homicides or non-fatal shootings, police said Tuesday.

The streak started at midnight Monday morning and as of 5:15 p.m. Tuesday was intact.

"For the first time in months the city of Detroit has seen its longest period of non-violence," the department said in a release.

Just weeks ago, three men were shot and killed and six others wounded in a rear gambling room of an east side Detroit barbershop.

A witness told police that the shooter pulled into a rear alley and fired shots into an open rear door of the barbershop on Nov. 6.

The following day, a 23-year-old pregnant woman and a 25-year-old man were shot to death, and a 75-year-old man was critically wounded outside a Detroit home.

The dead woman's baby was delivered by cesarean section, but later died.

Detroit has one of the highest murder and violent crime rates in the country.

But the city's 308 homicides so far this year are 46 fewer than at the same time in 2012, the department said.

The 1,084 non-fatal shootings also are down by 66 over last year.

A more intense focus on fighting crime at the street level has been in place since new Chief James Craig was hired in May.

Craig's police career started in Detroit in 1977. He later served in Los Angeles; Portland, Maine; and Cincinnati, where he had been police chief since 2011.

"As Chief Craig has said on many occasions, one homicide is way too many," police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody said. "These particular stats are directly correlated to how people are responding to their new police department."

Craig named a new assistant chief in September and revamped the department's command staff.

Several specialized units also have been implemented over the past few months, including the Gang Intelligence Surveillance Transit, Vice Squad and a 24-hour detective desk.

Read more here VIA wxyz.com

Alabama is to blame and Lincoln seems about right for todays arguments

(CNN) -- In 1834, Illinois voted whether to adopt Christmas as a legal holiday. Among those voting "nay" was the young Abraham Lincoln.

In 1834, Lincoln had not yet grown out of his atheist phase, but the young Lincoln's lack of faith in God -- and his lifelong disbelief in the divinity of Christ -- does not explain his vote. In 1834, a vote against Christmas was a safe, even a conventional vote.

Not a single state in the Union closed its offices for Christmas on December 25 in 1834. Lincoln marked his first Christmas as President, in December 1861, by holding a Cabinet meeting in the morning and a dinner party in the evening. The Lincoln family never had a White House tree and sent no Christmas cards.

Nobody was much shocked by these omissions.

The public Christmas as Americans know it today did not take form until late in the 19th century. George Washington issued a proclamation on Thanksgiving, but he never made any statement about Christmas (or Easter for that matter). The first state to recognize Christmas as a holiday was Alabama, in 1836, but the North and especially New England resisted. Not until 1856 did Massachusetts accept Christmas as a holiday. The federal government took until 1870 to follow.

There's debate on the point, but it seems that Benjamin Harrison was the first president to allow a Christmas tree inside the White House in 1889.

The tradition of lighting a tree on the White House grounds commenced with Calvin Coolidge in 1923. Dwight Eisenhower sent the first White House Christmas cards. Eisenhower's cards, however, were always determinedly "seasonal." It waited until John F. Kennedy in 1963 to send a card that depicted a nativity scene.

This late flowering of Christmas observance reflects two facts about Christmas that seldom get much attention in our public debates about the "war on Christmas."

In its first century, the national government practiced a separation of church and state far sharper than anything Americans would accept today.

One example: From its founding in 1775, the federal post office delivered mail on Sundays. As evangelical forms of Christianity spread after 1800, the new denominations demanded an end to this desecration of the Sabbath. Some postmasters took it upon themselves to close operations. In response, Congress voted in 1810 to require all postmasters to work at least one hour on Sunday, on pain of losing their positions.

More Here Via CNN

Santa Claus Shot in SE DC....Saved by the Grinch

WASHINGTON (WJLA) - A man in a Santa Claus suit was shot in the back with a pellet gun Tuesday morning at a toy giveaway in Southeast.

According to an ABC7 photographer who was interviewing the victim at the time of the shooting, the man in the Santa suit was struck in his upper back. He was transported to a nearby hospital with the pellet still lodged in his shoulder.

Witnesses report hearing two shots. Police believe they came from a second story window in a nearby building.

"Santa" wanted to continue giving away presents, but paramedics insisted he be transported to the hospital. He is expected to be OK and make a full recovery.

The toy giveaway did go on. A man playing the Grinch stepped in to help.

Read more HERE Via ABC

Video HERE

 

NORAD Tracks Santa's Path on Christmas Eve Because of a Typo

It was 1955, and Christmas was approaching, and Sears had a new idea for a yuletide gimmick. In local newspapers, the department store placed ads ... on behalf of Santa himself.

"HEY, KIDDIES!" the ad read, in a greeting that would seem creepy only in retrospect. "Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night."

The ads then listed local numbers for area children to call to get some one-on-one Kringle time. Which must have seemed, if you were a kid back then, pretty amazing. A direct line to St. Nick! Kids could, finally, bypass the middlemen that stood between them and their gifts—the Post Office, their parents—and go directly to the source. And, even more directly, to that source's enormous bag of loot. You can almost hear the Ralphie Parker voice-over.

Suddenly, phone calls intended for Santa were being received on a top-secret NORAD line.
More here via The hho

Festive Middle Finger Goes Up, Thanks to ACLU

The woman who last year won the case regarding her first amendment right to display a middle finger in Christmas lights on the roof of her Denham Springs home is back at it again this year.

 Sarah Childs claims she is continuously harassed by a neighbor, Kayla Weldon, so this is the way she is choosing to express her anger.

"You know lots of people just resort to violence," says Childs. "Look at road rage, people flip each other off all the time. I really don't see what the big deal is."

This incident sparked national media attention last year when law enforcement officials forced Childs to remove the lights, but later the ACLU stepped in and sued the city.
Denham Springs eventually dropped the matter. Weldon accuses Childs of putting the lights up on the roof of her Starlite Drive home for the attention and says it's angered and offended every single person in their neighborhood.

"She's crazy! She thinks she's going to get famous from all of this crap," Weldon said.

Childs says the feud between she and Weldon is extremely intense and she feels "the bird" is an appropriate expression.

"I'm not doing this for publicity," says Childs. "What other way do I have to express my angst? People have feelings and emotions. And she's still slandering me all over Facebook."
Weldon says Childs' home is currently empty; she doesn't live there anymore.
"And she's putting another finger on the roof? Are you serious? She's only coming over here to antagonize me and bring up old sh*t," says Weldon. "She just wants attention. That's all this is about."
Childs says the house is half hers and she plans to keep the display up.
Weldon says the argument between them was initially ignited because Childs accused her of stealing her dog, a claim she vehemently denies.
An earlier middle finger display was cut down and destroyed according to Childs, an act which Weldon says she was accused of doing. "She can accuse me of getting up there and cutting her lights down all she wants but that's definitely not the case. I didn't climb my ass on no roof and cut her lights down," Weldon said. "There are plenty of other people in the neighborhood who can't stand it."

VIA louisianaradionetwork.com

Downton Abbey Butler Plays Christmas-Cancelling Santa In This Scary Greenpeace Video Read more: Christmas: Downtown Abbey Butler Cancels Christmas in Greenpeace Video

HO HO HO...........

Sorry, kids, Christmas is canceled! At least according to this frightening new video from Greenpeace.

The clip features a dirty, bedraggled and beaten down Santa Claus — played by everyone’s favorite butler, Jim Carter of Downton Abbey fame — announcing the end of Christmas due to global warming and oil drilling in the Arctic.

“Dear children I regrettably bring bad tidings,” Santa warns in the video. “For some time now, melting ice here in the North Pole has made our operations and our day-to-day life intolerable and impossible and there may be no alternative but to cancel Christmas.” Santa explains that he wrote letters to world leaders, but no one believed his warning: “Needless to say these individuals are now at the top of my naughty list.”

Read more Via Time.com

Christmas tree delivery? There’s an app for that

Uber to deliver your Christmas Trees

The Home Depot is teaming up with transportation-network company Uber to deliver Christmas trees to homes and offices on Thursday, Dec. 5 via the Uber smartphone app.

There’s no cash necessary – Uber users will receive a 7 to 8-foot wrapped tree complete with stand, along with an “Uber gift,” within minutes of ordering. The tree comes for$135, which will be charged to your Uber account.

The service will stretch across 10 U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C.

Read more here via Daily Caller