Dazzling Christmas Lights Displays in the GTA

Martin was the youngest of nine children in their Fruitland, Ont., home. She said they didn’t have much; Martin’s father had passed away. Yet, despite having a lot on her plate, her mother made the festivities a focus for the family.

“She hauled in the tree by herself, decorated the house by herself,” says Martin, 52. “My mother was a big Christmas lover. Even the year she passed away — she was 88 — she was still putting up decorations. I inherited all her Christmas decorations.”

Martin also inherited her mother’s spirit for the season. When she met her husband Trevor Walker, she said he grumbled about the lights. But then they had their own children.

 

“I told him, ‘It’s not about you, it’s about the kids.’ And it was like the lights turned on in his head, literally. Then he started involving himself, and took over. When I did it, I hung the twinkling white lights, cedar boughs and red bows.

“When my husband took over about 10 years ago, first he added the coloured lights. Then it became the Griswoldian light show from hell,” Martin says, laughing, about the over-the-top decorating done by the character played by Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

The couple’s decorations were among those sent to the Star when we asked readers to tell us about some of the city’s best festive light displays.

 

An old-fashioned Santa and sleigh at Karin Martin's house.

In a quiet residential neighbourhood near Dufferin St. and Eglinton Ave. W., Mary Genua has been decorating her home for almost 30 years. She used to work at nearby St. John Bosco Catholic school and did it for the neighbourhood kids after starting with a few decorations, and then outdoing herself each year.

“I love Christmas as much as the kids do,” says Genua, leaning on a cane, admiring her latest acquisitions on the front lawn: a new snowman and two pre-lit artificial Christmas trees. “I got a good deal on the trees. They are normally $300 each, but I got ’em for $45 on a Boxing Day sale,” she says.  

 

Mary Genua has spent nearly 30 years decorating her home at 6 Holmesdale Cres. She expands her display each year.

“You have to try these glasses on,” she says, handing out 3-D glasses that make the tree appear covered with Santa and reindeers. “Isn’t that cool?!”

Andrew Fraser began hanging Christmas lights on his towering Norwegian maple after watching an arborist trim a neighbour’s tree in his Lawrence Ave. W. and Avenue Rd. neighbourhood.

“What they use is, literally, a big sling shot, weighted down by a bean bag. It was the coolest thing,” says Fraser. Intrigued, he bought one of the contraptions and used it to string a few lights around the big tree.

Then he fine-tuned the concept of an installation hanging from first branch — roughly one-and-a-half storeys high.

 

Andrew Fraser creates a new, 1-1/2-storey design each year and this Christmas dedicated his efforts to the peace sign seen as a symbol of global unity in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

“Over the years I’ve done Christmas balls, a chandelier, a giant candy cane, a snowman, a shooting star,” he adds. This year’s peace sign came up during a conversation at a neighbourhood party. “I am not a particularly political person . . . But just given the sense of community, and the stuff going on in the news, it struck a chord. I originally thought of doing an angel. A peace symbol was much easier.”

There’s no particular symbolism to the decorations festooning Grace D’Elia’s home in Parkdale, famous as one of the brightest Christmas lights displays in the city. The front lawn is filled with snowmen, a duck, a rooster, a penguin, candy canes, angels, snowflakes and stars. There’s a Christmas countdown clock on the porch.

 

Grace D’Elia’s home in Parkdale is known as one of the brightest displays in the city.

“My parents still do as much as they can. There’s got to be over 5,000 lights out there,” she says. “Now my father likes to put together his Christmas Village. He enjoys setting it up in the dining room.”

Meanwhile, in Mississauga, Sharon and Chuck Langley make their apartment building a winter wonderland. Sharon, 65, and Chuck, 83, both from the East Coast, are supervisors of the building and self-described “Christmas nuts.”

 

Christine Murphy, a.k.a. Ms Kandy Kane, with superintendants Chuck and Sharon Langley in the lobby of the apartment building they turn into a winter wonderland.

The Langley’s Mississauga Christmas cheer started off nine years ago with decorating the lobby. It spread into the mailbox area — and then outside.

“We do it for the kids. We’re big softies,” says Sharon.

“We have the best Santa Claus, he has a real beard,” says Sharon. “Santa Claus stays until the last kid has gone. It’s just fantastic watching the kids, their eyes bulging out.”  

 

Vince Talotta

Sharon and Chuck Langley's apartment building in Mississauga lights up for the holiday season.

Santa Claus

The man we know as Santa Claus has a history all his own. Today, he is thought of mainly as the jolly man in red, but his story stretches all the way back to the 3rd century. Find out more about the history of Santa Claus from his earliest origins to the shopping mall favorite of today, and discover how two New Yorkers–Clement Clark Moore and Thomas Nast–were major influences on the Santa Claus millions of children wait for each Christmas Eve.

The Legend of St. Nicholas 

 

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married.

Over the course of many years, Nicholas’s popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

Sinter Klaas Comes to New York 

 

St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.

The name Santa Claus evolved from Nick’s Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society’s annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a “rascal” with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a “huge pair of Flemish trunk hose.”

Shopping Mall Santas 

 

Gift-giving, mainly centered around children, has been an important part of the Christmas celebration since the holiday’s rejuvenation in the early 19th century. Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820, and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model.

It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a “live” Santa Claus. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santas have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.

‘Twas the Night before Christmas 

 

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas.” Moore’s poem, which he was initially hesitant to publish due to the frivolous nature of its subject, is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a “right jolly old elf” with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although some of Moore’s imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped popularize the now-familiar image of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve–in “a miniature sleigh” led by eight flying reindeer–leaving presents for deserving children.

“An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” created a new and immediately popular American icon. In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Claus.

A Santa by Any Other Name 

18th-century America’s Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning “Christ child,” Christkind is an angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children’s stockings with holiday treats. Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children.

In Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka purposely gave the wise men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn’t find Jesus. Later, she felt remorseful, but could not find the men to undo the damage. To this day, on January 5, Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven. In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.
The Ninth Reindeer

Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was born over a hundred years after his eight flying counterparts. The red-nosed wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store.

In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing, red nose. But, When Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn’t be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh by the light of his red nose. Rudolph’s message—that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset—proved popular. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939.

When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May’s friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph’s story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since 1964.

Gilbert neighborhood's light display wins ABC's 'The Great Christmas Light Fight'

A Gilbert neighborhood's Christmas-lights display is getting national recognition.

"Christmas on Comstock," located in the 3600 block of East Comstock Drive, won the $50,000 grand prize during Monday night's episode of ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight." The weekly show typically pits holiday-lights experts from across America, who compete by decorating their homes to the extreme.

During Monday night's episode, Christmas on Comstock edged out "Jeter Bend" from Celebration, Fla., and "Waikele Christmas Light," from Waipahu, Hawaii. The Gilbert neighborhood was the first in the Valley to win an episode of the show, which is in the midst of its third season.

How it happened

Brian McNamara, who organized the Gilbert display, said the show's producers approached him in early August about participating after they saw a drone video he posted on YouTube of last year's light display.

Sixty-eight neighbors -- half of them kids -- spread across 13 houses and started building the display Sept. 17, and finished it exactly one month later. ABC crews spent five days filming in Gilbert and relied on handy-cam footage to fill out the rest.

The end result was a display consisting of more than 500 circuits, 110,000 lights, 285 strobe lights, and over 50,000 feet of wire. The roughly 10-minute display show is set to four songs, which visitors can listen to on 93.9 FM as they drive or walk through.

"We all just sort of helped each other out," McNamara said. "We had to up our game for the TV show."

The group was announced as the winners by co-host Carter Oosterhouse on Nov. 1. They signed confidentiality agreements that made them keep the results a secret.

On Monday, the display's organizers wheeled a projector, a 10-foot screen, heaters and speakers into the street so the entire block could watch the show together. Each house received identical trophies, which were modeled after Christmas-light bulbs.

"We were really pumped," McNamara said. "It's a ton of work to put it together. ... It meant a lot to the neighborhood."

Starting a tradition

 

McNamara, who is a finance and accounting analyst, said he first started doing Christmas-lights displays at his home in the San Tan Valley area in 2005. He taught himself how to do it through YouTube and started with a display of 5,000 lights and 16 circuits.

He's kept the tradition going since he moved to Gilbert five years ago, growing the display from just his house to the entire neighborhood. He said he and his neighbors pay out of pocket for the display, which typically bumps his electricity bill up by about $50 in the month of December.

He said the meaning of the display outweighs the cost, especially for children.

"It's the traditions that people remember, not the gifts," he said. "The memories that last forever are greater than gifts."

McNamara said the $50,000 award will be split evenly among the 13 families. His family is going to donate a portion of their winnings to Make-a-Wish Arizona.

Christmas on Comstock also accepts donations, which are given to Make-a-Wish Arizona as well.
"Our goal is to be able to grant one wish to a local Arizona kid," McNamara said. "So far, we're well on track."

When asked how he will top the display next year, McNamara said that right now, all he can think about is sleep. But once the holidays are over, the next step is the easiest.
"It comes down a lot faster than the time it takes to put it up," he said. "It goes quick."

Mother-of-three who spent £1,500 on 300 Christmas presents for her children insists they're NOT spoilt after she's accused of being 'delusional' and 'pressie-bragging'

A mother who loves to shower her three children with 85 presents each on Christmas Day has defended her right to overindulge them.

Emma Tapping, 27, from the Isle of Man, was met with criticism from around the world when she shared a picture of the mountain of presents, that cost around £1,500, under her Christmas tree on.

She told FEMAIL she was shocked after the picture was taken and turned into an image that went viral with the caption: 'Nearly time for all the materialistic parents to compete and broadcast how many presents their kids have on Facebook! Just remember theres some children who dont get much

 Mother-of-three Emma Tapping was shocked by the reaction to the number of presents she buys her children

The mountain of presents under Emma's tree that sparked a backlash when she shared it online

The picture was taken from Emma's Instagram and went viral with this caption: 'Nearly time for all the materialistic parents to compete and broadcast how many presents their kids have on Facebook! Just remember theres some children' who dont get much'

People left comments on the picture accusing Emma of spoiling her children and forgetting the true meaning of Christmas.

Emma, who runs a holiday cottage, said: 'I was more shocked by the reaction of people who instantly thought I was a bragging parent with spoilt little brat children. I was shocked how judgemental people were. My attitude is what I buy my kids is my business, no one else's.'

She added: 'The worst comments were for me were about the kids, the lady that stole the picture knew it must of been a kid's Christmas tree, hence "materialistic parents", so that was upsetting that people didn't think about that before judging.' 

Emma, who runs a holiday cottage, said she loves to spoil her children at Christmas as they are not overindulged throughout the rest of the year

Emma said she goes bargain hunting all year to afford the presents for her children at Christmas

Emma appeared on today's This Morning via Skype to reveal why she buys so many Christmas presents, which can be seen stacked up under her tree behind her

Ben Shepherd and Holly Willoughby interviewed the mother-of-three about how she manages to afford the 300 gifts as she says she is 'not at all rich' 

'You've had some very serious accusations that your children are suffering some form of abuse because they are being paid for their love in gifts and presents,' Holly Willoughby put to her as she appeared on today's This Morning via Skype to defend her festive excess.

Emma, who estimates there are around 300 presents under her tree for her two daughters aged 13 and nine, her son, aged 19 months, and her husband, a labourer, defended her right to lavish them with gifts and insisted they are not spoilt.

She said: 'You can buy your children two presents or 200 but it is the way you bring them up. They could have two presents and still be a little terror.

'My kids know the difference between right and wrong, they appreciate everything they get and they don't get spoilt throughout the year, we don't go on expensive holidays.

'If they break something like their phone they have to save up their money to replace it.'

She said she is 'not rich at all' and manages to accumulate her festive haul by bargain hunting and shopping throughout the year - starting in the Boxing Day sales.

She said: 'I start shopping in January and use every bargain, every sale I can, that's how I do it, I shop all year round to make the pile as big as it is.

Lizzi Cloverman weighed in calling Emma 'a bit delusional' for thinking her children needed so many gifts

Jill Gallagher was one of the people who tweeted to say Christmas is 'not about how many gifts you can buy' and later said the children were 'very much spoilt'

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Paul said buying a child so much is 'silly' as he used to be happy with '30p for the youth club'

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The segment promoted much debate on Twitter with others saying it was up to Emma how she spent her money and some saying to think of others without

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Janine Nicholas accused the mother of 'pressie bragging'

'It has cost around £1,500, I don't have a credit card, I follow Martin Lewis the money expert religiously and I do all the sales. I never pay for anything full price so can give me kids the best Christmas they can have.'

Emma said her family have always celebrated Christmas this way but it is the first time she has faced a backlash about it after she posted a picture of all the presents under her tree online.

When she found out the picture had been taken of her account and had gone viral, prompting people around the globe to comment on it, she was unrepentant and shared the picture again with her own message.

She wrote: 'Will I post another pics of my tree? You bet your grandmas nipples I will. Seeing as my picture has gone viral (without my consent!) here is my tree. 

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 The bargain hunter says she never pays for anything full price and shops all year for Christmas

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Emma said judgemental people won't stop her celebrating Christmas the way she wants

'I LOVE christmas I LOVE spoiling my kids in the festive season and I work damn hard to make sure it is every bit as amazing as it can be. So 2 fat fingers up to all the judgemental ***holes and big thanks to all the normal, every day people who don't really give a s*** about SOMEONE else's christmas tree or got into the festive spirit with me. Merry christmas everyone. share share share.'


She then prompted further debate following her appearance on This Morning as some viewers rushed to condemn her and her excessive shopping.

Jill Gallagher tweeted: 'Christmas is about family and being together not how many gifts you can by absolutely redic (sic)' and added in response to another viewer who said the children were overindulged: 'I agree very much spoilt.'

Paul Kezza wrote: 'Getting a child that much stuff is silly. They will have no appreciation for little things in life. Absolute daft.' He said all he used to get was '30p for the youth club as a child and 'a second hand bike at Christmas.'

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Jen Gale appeared to debate with Emma on This Morning as she said she is against consumerism and prefers homemade gifts. Even her Christmas tree is made from pom poms 

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Jen said she won't buy presents for her two sons as she wants them to remember Christmas as a time spent together instead


Cheryl-Ann Auld added: 'It's about spending time with loved ones not the amount you can spend.'

Others criticised her need to share the picture online and accused her of 'pressie-bragging' and being insensitive to those without - such as the families flooded this week in Cumbria.

But others were on her side, stating they also liked to spoil their children at Christmas and saying 'each to their own'.

Donna Williams reflected this view with her tweet: 'It's up to her but I bet her house is full of junk.'

Emma appeared on This Morning with her antithesis, Jen Gale, from Bristol, who chooses to spend nothing at Christmas on her sons aged seven and four.

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Emma said a frugal Christmas is not for her and she will hit the shops on Boxing Day to start on next year's haul of presents

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'I love the fact I can work hard all year to give my kids and my family this kind of Christmas,' Emma said

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Emma said she has always been extravagant at Christmas, as shown by the presents for her family under the tree at Christmas 2012

She revealed in this week's MailOnline how their presents are all homemade or second hand as she is against consumerism.

She said: 'I want something different for my children. I want them to remember Christmases spent doing things together. Where it's not all about the presents.'

Emma said on today's This Morning that she will never spend Christmas in such a frugal way.

She said: 'Christmas to me is about kids and it is the one day you can spoil your kids. I don't care if you have got 50p or a million in the bank, make it what you can make it.

'I love the fact I can work hard all year to give my kids and my family this kind of Christmas. It is what we have always done and what we will continue to do.'

The Cat That Saved Christmas Brisbane Moggie Defeats Snake Wrapped Around Family Christmas Tree

Meet Stripes, the four-year-old house cat that saved Christmas at the O’Brien house by killing an interloping 1.2m tree snake wrapped around their plastic Christmas tree.

When Natalie O’Brien and her two children arrived at their Kallangur home, in Brisbane’s north, yesterday afternoon to discover the Christmas tree on the floor, presents torn open and blood splatters they feared the worst.

“I thought ‘we’ve been burgled’ and then my son Andrew spotted the snake,” she told 9news.com.au.
“I saw the blood on the floor and then the snake – at first I thought it was a rubber snake.

“But sitting there was our cat, Stripes, looking quite pleased with himself.”
A bit of crime scene analysis was quickly carried out by Mr O’Brien, her 11-year-old son Andrew and 14-year-old daughter Annabelle. They believe Stripes spotted the tree snake in the newly-purchased plastic tree and waded in to defend his turf.

Unfortunately, in true feline form, the Christmas tree also had to come down and the presents got a little shredded in the process.

The tree, purchased for $30 from a nearby discount store, was erected on December 1, leaving Ms O’Brien worried the snake may have been in the house for some time.

“It’s a little bit worrying that you could have had a snake in the house while we were there,” she said.
It’s not the first time the family has seen snakes in the bushland that surrounds their home, but Ms O’Brien said none had ever dared come inside.

Snake Catchers Brisbane’s Bryan Robinson said it wasn’t unusual for snakes to wander in from bushland and seek the height advantage on items such as Christmas trees, light stands and blinds.
“Even if it’s plastic, it’s not that unusual – the snake doesn’t see it as a plastic tree, it sees it as an elevated position,” he said.

But while Stripes may like to think he’s a hero, Mr Robinson said it’s just as probable the cat started the whole thing.

“It’s actually pretty likely the cat has dragged the snake inside,” he said.

Either way in the O’Brien household, Stripes is now known as the cat who saved Christmas.
“We’re thinking of getting him a rubber snake for Christmas,” Ms O’Brien said.
“We’ll hang it over the Christmas tree for him.”

10 Unusual Christmas Traditions From Around The World

From tinsel to Brussels sprouts, Christmas is just one wacky tradition after another. In celebration of these festive eccentricities, we’ve rounded up ten of the most unusual customs from across the globe...

1) Germany and Austria

The star of a new Hollywood horror film, the Krampus is Father Christmas' scary friend, a devilish creature who punishes naughty children throughout the festive period. The mythical beast, which stems from Austro-Bavarian German-speaking Alpine folklore, is hairy with hooves and large horns.

2) Catalonia

There are a couple of strange Catalonian traditions, one of which is the caga tió or “defecating log”. In the fortnight leading up to Christmas, a grinning creature is created out of a small log and placed on the dining room table. The log must be fed every day with fruit, nuts, and sweets, before – on Christmas Eve – it’s beaten with sticks, excreting its goodies. Another fecal-themed Catalonian custom is a caganer, a small defecating figurine, which traditionally appears in nativity scenes.

3) Caracas

In Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, revellers travel to early-morning church services on roller skates throughout the festive period. The roads are even closed off specially.

4) Japan

Christmas isn’t a national holiday in Japan but that doesn’t stop a large number of people celebrating the festival. Santa Claus, or Santa Kurohsu, is said to have eyes in the back of his head to keep an eye on naughty children, while Japanese Christmas cake is usually made up of sponge, whipped cream, and strawberries.

5) Portugal

In Portugal, families set extra places at the dining table on Christmas morning for deceased relatives. The practice is called “consoda” and is thought to bring the family good luck. 

6) Czech Republic

Over Christmas, Czech women use a clever trick to predict their love lives for the coming year. Unmarried women stand with their backs to their front doors and toss shoes over their shoulders. If a shoe lands with its toe pointing towards the door, the woman will get hitched within the next 12 months.

7) Norway

In Norway, it’s thought Christmas Eve coincides with the arrival of evil spirits and witches. To protect themselves, families hide all their brooms before they go to bed.

8) Ukraine

Ukrainian Christmas trees are traditionally decorated with a fake spider and web. The custom, which is said to bring good luck, stems from an old wives' tale about a poor woman who could not afford to decorate her tree. She woke up on Christmas morning to find a spider had covered it in a glittering web.

9) Greenland

If you think sprouts are bad, you should try one of Greenland’s Christmas delicacies. Mattak - raw whale skin with blubber - is one. Another is kiviak, which is when an auk (a small bird) is wrapped in seal skin, buried for several months, and then eaten once decomposed.

10) India

Only about 2.3 per cent of the population of India are Christians, but that still works out as about 25 million people. The day is celebrated with midnight mass and present-giving, but in the absence of fir trees or pine trees, banana trees and mango tree are decorated instead.

12 Pranks Of Christmas Past

Ah, the holiday season: Glad tidings. Comfort. Joy. Pranks.

Say what?

For some earlier Americans, Christmas was the yearly open season on playing practical jokes on other people — filching wagon wheels, turning road signs the wrong way, lighting firecrackers to scare animals. A sort of cold weather April Fools' Day, perhaps to make the midwinter less bleak.
Some of the gags were benign; others brutal. In any case, the tradition of holiday high jinks goes back, way back before the founding of the country. Here are the 12 Pranks of Christmas:

• Dismissal Toe. Founded in 1693, the Virginia College of William & Mary was the site of Colonial misconduct. "Barring professors from classrooms was a common stunt in the 1700s," the Newport News, Va., Daily Press reported in a 1993 article, "and was seen as a way to hasten the beginning of Christmas break."

• Slither Bells. Teddy Roosevelt's sons Archie and Quentin "put snakes in congressmen's pockets and smuggled a Christmas tree into the mansion in violation of their father's conservationist edict," the Carbondale, Ill., Daily Free Press reported on Dec. 15, 1930.

• Home For Christmas. Just after Christmas Day 1993, someone stole the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in the yard of Ted Laspe, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch of Dec. 16, 1994. Instead of finding the figurine in the crib, Laspe — who was on disability and suffered from multiple health problems — found a note that read: "Dear Ted, On vacation. Be back Christmas Eve of 1994." Over the ensuing months, Laspe received photographs from various places — including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin — signed "The Baby Jesus." Laspe died in October of 1994; the baby Jesus was delivered to the house by a cab driver on Christmas Eve of that year.

•    Kissing Santa Claus. Today we still participate in a seasonal practical joke dating back more than a century — according to the Detroit Free Press of Dec. 25, 1904 — when we hang mistletoe in a room and kiss someone beneath it.

• Yule Logs. The best Christmas trick "ever played in our midst," noted the St. Johns Herald in Arizona on Jan. 13, 1900, "was played on Father Curtis. Christmas Eve twelve loads of good dry wood were hauled and unloaded in his yard."

• Let It Soap. In Brunswick, Ga., the Savannah News noted in a Feb. 21, 1884, report on the Christmas of 1883, "some malicious fellow" put five bars of soap in a water tower near Waycross on Christmas Day so that when the night express steam locomotive stopped for a fill-up, the tank was filled with soapy water "and soapy water will not make steam." As a consequence, the engine was stalled on the track until another engine could be dispatched to clear the tracks.

• O Christmas Cheese. In 1996, the mayor of Garland, Texas, received a Christmas gift of a 525-pound block of "velvet yellow cheese hauled in by refrigerated truck from the Land O'Lakes farm in northern Wisconsin," the Dallas Morning News reported on Dec. 25 of that year. It took half a dozen men to move the package to the mayor's door.

• The Last Straw. Police searched the apartment of two men in Somerset, Ky., and found — among other stolen Christmas decorations — a baby Jesus statue that had been taken from a family's creche, the Greenwood, S.C., Index-Journal reported on June 3, 2009. The men were charged with theft and sent to jail for 45 days.

• Jingled Belles. Early on Dec. 25, 1953, the town of Stony Point, N.C., was rocked by an explosion near the railroad tracks that woke local folks and shattered store windows. According to the Statesville, N.C., Daily Record three days later, "It is believed that for a Christmas prank, someone set off a charge of some explosive, probably dynamite, failing to realize the damage which could result."

• Holiday Sails. Practical jokes at Christmastime were especially popular among members of the U.S. Navy, the North Platte, Neb., Weekly Tribune observed on Dec. 10, 1909. One of the favorite Christmastide gags on fighting ships was for "a procession of fantastically garbed sailors" to visit the captain's quarters — carrying a bucket of whitewash — and petition the ship's commander to wipe out everyone's demerits.

• Christmas Chopping. When a pair of guys axed down a 14-foot spruce tree in someone's yard and turned it into a Christmas tree in front of their fraternity house in Highland Park, Ill., they were nabbed by police and fined $100 apiece. According to the La Crosse, Wis., Tribune of Jan. 4, 1963, they also had to pay the tree's owner $500. "I am not dealing with juvenile delinquents," the police magistrate told the tree-fellers. "You are Northwestern students. I know things are done as pranks, but this is a criminal offense."

•  Do You Hear What I Hear? In her 2013 book The Legacy of Bear Mountain: Stories of Old Mountain Values That Enrich Our Lives Today, Janie Mae Jones McKinley tells of a Christmas prank her grandfather — a railroad man — pulled on his two brothers-in-law in rural North Carolina during the Great Depression. It was customary for neighbors in the valley to shoot shotguns in the air on Christmas Day. People would take turns and the one who had the most ammunition was the winner — and by extension, the most prosperous. McKinley's grandfather figured out a way — using a wooden board and a sledgehammer — to make a noise that sounded exactly like a shotgun blast. So he could outlast everyone. "After it b'come clear I'd won," McKinley's grandfather would explain while laughing, "I kept smackin' the board with the hammer ever few minutes for awhile — to show 'em I still had plenty of shells!"

EastEnders All the Big Christmas 2015 Plotlines Revealed

EastEnders fans are in for a dramatic mix of birth, death and destruction this Christmas with the lives of Albert Square regulars at risk throughout the festive season.

The big Christmas Day episode will see the Mitchells and the Beales spending the 25th of December together, but events are to take a sinister turn as tensions increase.

While Jane and Ian remain desperate to protect killer Bobby's secret, Sharon is equally determined to keep her own family safe. But as the adults argue, little do they know that hostilities between Bobby and Dennis are also escalating. By the end of the day, lives are left hanging in the balance...

The Mitchells are also embroiled in its feud with the Hubbard clan and both families will be seen going to extreme measures to protect those they love. But as the animosity reaches a dramatic climax, someone’s caught in the crossfire - will they live to tell the tale? From the look of Vincent, we're expecting car-related carnage!

Elsewhere, Stacey finally unlocks the mystery to the key, but now that Kush knows he’s the father of her baby, can she convince him not to tear her happy family apart? As the pressure builds, Stacey desperately tries to keep her secret from an oblivious Martin and Shabnam - but when her waters break at the nativity, will the truth finally out?

And with New Year approaching, Mick and Linda head towards their wedding day. But with this being an EastEnders nuptials, something very big is bound to go wrong. And, on this occasion, it comes in the form of Dean.

With everyone now knowing the truth about Dean, the Carters are reunited as he is finally ejected from the family. However, fuelled by rage, Dean returns wanting revenge, plunging them all into mortal danger…will Linda and Mick get to say 'I do'?

A Very Murray Christmas is The Boring Fantastic Christmas Special You’ve Been Waiting For

An old-fashioned holiday special helmed by Sofia Coppola, Netflix's latest has the odd makings of a classic

The new holiday special A Very Murray Christmas, new to Netflix on Friday, is beneath Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola. And yet it’s exactly the sort of thing there should be more of.

Let me explain. Murray and Coppola, who last worked together on the 2003 film classic Lost in Translation, have re-teamed for a streaming-service Christmas special that feels like the ultimate in larks; both the acting and the directing are coasting by on charm. The brief special tells a wispy story of Murray’s snowbound holiday in a New York City hotel (the hotel feels like a prison, as in at least two of Coppola’s feature films; he’s eventually joined by Maya Rudolph, George Clooney, and Miley Cyrus, among others). At less than an hour, it’s a bit draggy—among the many moments that I might have cut, Cyrus’s performance indicates she’s one more staid gig “proving she can really sing” away from sacrificing whatever is interesting about her career on the altar of respectability.

But quibbling over particular elements of the broadcast doesn’t really work: A Very Murray Christmas doesn’t fit into the contemporary television landscape at all. It’s, a bit self-consciously, meant to be a Christmas special of the sort that one wants to say used to be all over TV, without being able to cite a single example; Coppola’s own citation of Dean Martin Christmas specials in a recent interview feels exactly right to this viewer who’s never once seen a Dean Martin Christmas special.

In that interview, Coppola says Martin felt, in his Christmas shows, “like he just drove in on his convertible,” and in modeling A Very Murray Christmas after the Martin aesthetic, she may be governed by values greater than aesthetic purity. Murray and Coppola were both paid by Netflix to conduct a brand-building exercise for which neither party seems to have worked terribly hard. In Lost in Translation, Murray seemed to be stretching emotionally to play an aging actor cashing in; here, he seems to be playing the same part, but less effort fully and more filled with glee.

But A Very Murray Christmas deserves applause, and not merely because artists like Murray and Coppola getting to do their own thing between movies is good. The special is acting out a pose of woozy self-regard, sure, but it represents a commitment to a point-of-view more sustained than many single hours I’ve seen recently. The best-case-scenario for outlets like Netflix is to give artists an outlet to do exactly what they want to do, and this production was clearly unburdened by network notes. And while nostalgia for its own sake is no virtue, there’s something to the timelessness of this special that clicks. Cyrus aside (and who knows, she may be with us for 40 years), there’s nothing that particularly pegs this to 2015, or to the 2010s at all.

One imagines families sitting around this for decades to come on Christmas Eve, just like my family sat around a VHS of A Muppet Family Christmas. That everyone will be a little bit bored is the strange joy of holiday specials; the banality won’t overshadow the viewer’s own Christmas celebrations. It’s the opposite of how Mariah Carey’s endlessly splashy public celebration of Christmas gets a bit depressing by December 15. If someone as dynamic as Bill Murray can be boring on Christmas, maybe you, the viewer, are having the best Christmas of all.

Christmas In New York City 2015 ISIS Terror Threat Coincides With Rockefeller Tree Lighting Holiday Markets High Tourist Season

 New York City is especially magical during the Christmas season. Freda, a civil engineer from Arlington, Virginia, has spent many holiday seasons in the Big Apple, taking in the decorative lights and the oversized Christmas tree.


“I’ve gone to the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, which is a lot of fun. I might do that this year,” said Freda as he waited for a train back home Thursday at Penn Station. "It’s a fun place to be around the holidays.”

For New York, this week marks the unofficial start of its festive holiday tourism season. New York City is one of the world’s most visited locations, and that is especially true around holiday time, as the city hosts many iconic events such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony and New Year's Eve in Times Square. However, this year, the holiday season comes on the heels of a week full of terror threats and killings around the world carried out by radical Islamic terrorists.

After terror attacks in Beirut and Paris last week, many people in other parts of the world have wondered if they could be next. American cities have acutely felt the sense of disturbance as the Islamic State group, which claimed credit for the Paris attacks, made threats against Washington, D.C., and New York City. While the tourism industry and tourists themselves said they were aware of the terror threats, many said the show must go on in New York City.

When the militants -- also known as ISIS or ISIL -- released a video Wednesday making threats against New York City, it included old footage of Times Square that had appeared in a propaganda message released in April. The New York City Police Department determined there was no credible or specific threat against the city, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Wednesday, but he still deployed members of a new anti-terrorism squad as an extra precaution.

"The people of New York City will not be intimidated," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said late Wednesday. "We understand it is the goal of terrorists to intimidate and disrupt our democratic society. We will not submit to their wishes."

New York is wrapped in holiday cheer every December, as parents and children flock to ice skate in Bryant Park, shoppers stroll along Fifth Avenue to take in store windows dressed up for the holidays, and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center glitters, drawing visitors and locals from around the city. The smells of roasting chestnuts fill sidewalks and churches perform traditional carols.

Tourists at Times square and Penn Station on Thursday said they had noticed an increase in police officers at big tourist locations, and most said the increased presence made them feel safe. Lewis Moynan, a 22-year-old from England who was finishing up a trip to New York on Thursday, said he was not worried about traveling this week.

“It’s probably one of the safest times you can travel, really, with all the security,” he said. “You can see all the police presence all around the city. ... It makes you feel safer.”

After working as a soccer coach in California for several months, Moynan’s visa was nearing expiration, so he wanted to stop in New York to see the sights before heading to visit family in Maryland. While in the city, he made time to see the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge and the World Trade Center.

“I saw this morning outside Macy’s they’ve got all the Christmas trees out and everything,” he said. “I loved it so much last year and there’s so much to do that I wanted to come back.”

Several holiday-themed events opened this week with increased police presence. The annual Union Square Holiday Market opened Thursday, and Urbanspace, the organization that runs the market, said it expects to have just as busy a holiday season as ever.

“We’re going on as usual this year, but obviously we’re cognizant of what’s going on in the world,” said Rachel Van Dolsen, a spokeswoman for Urbanspace. “The holiday market has been in New York for over 20 years, it has integrated itself into the city’s culture, and it’s become an institution.”

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, New York City expects to host about 5 million visitors, according to NYC & Company, the city’s tourism organization. Those tourists will bring in more than $3 billion, which the city’s businesses and tourist attractions rely on to sustain them throughout the rest of the year.

“Cultural institutions and theaters launch new performances and blockbuster exhibits this time of year; major parades and events also add to the city’s appeal,” Dena Libner, a spokeswoman for NYC & Company said in an email. “The strength of holiday visitation is essential for the businesses and employees sustained by visitor spending.”

Hotels, too, rely on holiday visitors for big business. While most aren't expecting a drop in visitors due to the recent terror threats, some have added their own security along with Christmas wreaths and red velvet bows in recent days.

“At all Hyatt Hotels, the safety and security of guests and associates is one of our top priorities. Out of an abundance of caution, various key properties in the U.S. have elevated their security measures,” the Hyatt Corp. said in a statement. “Additionally, the hotels are in close contact with local police and are collaborating with them in their enhanced community policing measures at these locations.”
For tourists in New York City the week before Thanksgiving, many were excited to be avoiding the holiday crowds, but did say friends or relatives had warned them about traveling so soon after the Paris attacks.

Melissa Lindsay, who had just arrived at Penn Station Thursday for a girls’ weekend with her best friend of 30 years, was excited to be in New York for the first time, despite the state of world affairs. She and her friend had come from Fredericksburg, Virginia, to see Joseph Prince, the pastor of New Creation Church in Singapore, who is currently on a world tour, and they decided to make a weekend out of their trip to New York.

“I’m so excited to see ‘The Color Purple,’ ” Lindsay, 51, said. “I’m not nervous traveling, but other people did tell me to be careful going to New York. About four people said, ‘Have fun, but be careful.’ ”

A more experienced traveler, Maria Elena Wood has tried to visit New York City every year since 1981. A journalist from Santiago, Chile, she loves the New York theater scene and exploring the city. But Wood, who is 55, wasn’t going to let terrorists ruin her time in the iconic New York City.
“I think that we cannot be nervous because anywhere it can happen,” Wood said. “We must continue to do our lives. I think that we have to continue living as we live because that’s the best way to fight terrorism -- not to be in terror.”

50 Best Christmas Cracker Jokes

They're corny and seldom improve with the telling, but Christmas lunch wouldn't be complete without the chorus of groans that corny cracker jokes always provoke.
Here are some of the classics....

What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney?

Claustrophobia!

What do they sing at a snowman's birthday party?

Freeze a jolly good fellow

Why does Santa have three gardens?

So he can 'ho ho ho'!

What does Miley Cyrus have at Christmas?

Twerky!
Knock, knock

who’s there?

Arthur

Arthur who?

Arthur any mince pies left?

What do vampires sing on New Year's Eve?

Auld Fang Syne

Why did Santa's helper see the doctor?

Because he had a low "elf" esteem!

What happened to the man who stole an Advent Calendar?

He got 25 days!

What kind of motorbike does Santa ride?

A Holly Davidson!

What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck?

A Christmas Quacker!

What is the best Christmas present in the world?

A broken drum, you just can't beat it!

How did Scrooge win the football game?

The ghost of Christmas passed!

Who delivers presents to baby sharks at Christmas?

Santa Jaws

Who is Santa's favorite singer?

Elf-is Presley!

What do Santa's little helpers learn at school?

The elf-abet!

What did Santa say to the smoker? 

Please don't smoke, it's bad for my elf!

What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees?

Horn-aments!

Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?

They always drop their needles!

Did Rudolph go to school?

No. He was Elf-taught!

Why did the turkey join the band?

Because it had the drumsticks!

What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

Frostbite!

What do snowmen wear on their heads?

Ice caps!

How do snowmen get around?

They ride an icicle!

What song do you sing at a snowman's birthday party?

Freeze a jolly good fellow!

How does Good King Wenceslas like his pizzas?

One that's deep pan, crisp and even!

Who hides in the bakery at Christmas?

A mince spy!

What do you call a cat in the desert?

Sandy Claws!

What does Santa do with fat elves?

He sends them to an Elf Farm!

What did Adam say to his wife on the day before Christmas?

It's Christmas, Eve!

How many letters are in the Christmas alphabet?

25. There’s "no EL"!

What carol is heard in the desert?

O camel ye faithful!

What do angry mice send to each other at Christmas?

Cross Mouse Cards!

What athlete is warmest in winter?

A long jumper!

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?

Tinsilitis!

What's the most popular Christmas wine?

'I don't like Brussels sprouts!'

What did the beaver say to the Christmas Tree?

Nice gnawing you!

Why are Christmas Trees like bad knitters?

They keep losing their needles!

What do you get if you cross a bell with a skunk?

Jingle Smells!

What do you call a bunch of chess players bragging about their games in a hotel lobby?

Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!

What's green, covered in tinsel and goes ribbet ribbet?

Mistle-toad!

Which famous playwright was terrified of Christmas?

Noël Coward!

What is the best Christmas present in the world?

A broken drum – you just can’t beat it!

How do you know if Santa is really a werewolf?

He has Santa claws!

What did the stamp say to the Christmas card?

Stick with me and we'll go places!

Why did no one bid for Rudolph and Blitzen on eBay?

Because they were two deer!

What does the Queen call her Christmas Broadcast?

The One Show!

What did Father Christmas do when he went speed dating?

He pulled a cracker!

Why don't you ever see Father Christmas in hospital?

Because he has private elf care!

How did Mary and Joseph know that Jesus was 7lb 6oz when he was born?

They had a weigh in a manger!

Why is it getting harder to buy Advent calendars?

Because their days are numbered!