I know it is Christmas Eve, but it is possible to still buy something, ship it and have it delivered on time -- if you're willing to spend a little extra money.
Here is how.
Take Better Christmas Pictures This YearYou could do a real service for your viewers and readers by giving them some advice on how to
capture memories a little better this Christmas.
Here is:
Advice about taking better picturesAdvice about capturing better videoInformation about the sound quality on your home videos
Why Are Movie Theaters Filling up on Christmas Eve?
Read
this essay from
The Chicago Tribune.
Christmas in Prison
How will local prisons and jails handle Christmas? Do they have special meals? What about juvenile lockups? I can't think of many things that would be sadder than spending Christmas behind bars.
The Minister's Big Night
Trust me -- as the husband of a minister, I can say that tonight is a big night for people of the cloth. It is the one night of the year when churches are packed to the rafters. Visitors might like what they hear and come back. Churches increasingly need to do something to attract people, so they will go all out.
Talk with local ministers and priests about how they craft a message for the once or twice-a-year crowd. After a tough economic year for many churches, the Christmas service can make or break a church treasury.
Christmas Myths
The Three Kings: Non-churchgoers may not know that there is no real evidence of the three kings. There could have been four, eight or a dozen. The scriptures mention three gifts, but do not describe or name the three kings. The visitors from the East did not arrive at the manger on the day of Jesus' birth. It's said that they traveled from afar and may not have gotten to the Christ child for two years. Remember, King Herod had male children under the age of 2 killed.
So how did we get to this "three kings" bit? The carol "We Three Kings" was written in 1857 by an American minister, John Henry Hopkins Jr., for use in a Christmas pageant. It was a song -- a Christmas song and a long tradition -- but it wasn't scriptural.
This article states that:
According to tradition dating back to medieval times, their names
were Balthasar, Gaspar (or Casper), and Melchior. They are often
depicted as representing the three races. The Bible says they came from
the East, but exactly where is not known. Arabia, Babylon, and Persia
are popular choices. According to one tradition, Balthasar was king of
Arabia, Gaspar was king of India, and Melchior was king of Persia.
[...] The Bible, however, does not describe the kings or reveal their
names. In fact, it does not call them kings at all, but simply Magi, or
Wise Men.
The Candy Cane: The National Confectioners Association passes along the story of the candy cane. Around 1670, a priest in a Cologne cathedral asked a local confectioner to put a bend in the candy to look like a shepherd's crook. In the early 1900s a red stripe was added about the same time that candymakers added peppermint to the sugar.
Every year, about this time, an e-mail circulates claiming the candy cane was
invented by a candy maker in Indiana who made it in the shape of the letter "J" for Jesus. The story says the candy maker added the red stripes to remind believers of the beating Jesus took before his death.
Christmas v. Easter: Christmas is not the holiest day on the Christian calendar. Easter is.
Jesus' Birth: In all probability, Jesus was not born in the winter.
The shepherds around Bethlehem didn't stay out in the winter because it was too cold. They were out from April to October. In the winter, they took their sheep inside for shelter.
The Christmas StarThe question of the Christmas Star's origin has been the source of endless scientific explanations. Some have said it was a planet, a comet or a supernova. Nobody knows or can explain how the star may have guided travelers.
MSNBC explains:
Let’s assume, as many historians have, that
the most likely time frame for the birth of Jesus was between 3 B.C.
and A.D. 1. Let’s also assume that the Star of Bethlehem could be
observed by skywatchers elsewhere in the world, and not just by the
Magi — who are known as “wise men” or “kings” but were actually priests
who relied on astrology.
These assumptions would rule out some of the prime suspects in the mystery: comets
brightening stars known as novae, and exploding stars known as
supernovae. The Chinese, who did a particularly good job of cataloging
astronomical phenomena, recorded no such phenomena during the years in
question.
Beyond the timing issue, there’s another
consideration: A comet or supernova big enough to attract the wise
men’s attention would have been widely noticed by royalty and commoners
as well. But King Herod and his advisers seemed not to know or care
about the star until the astrologers from the east came to visit.
However,
if we suppose that the “star” actually referred to the planets, the
situation is less problematic. The movements and groupings of planets
in the night sky were of exceeding interest to astrologers and were
closely tracked around the world. Historical records and modern-day
computer simulations indicate that there was a rare series of planetary
groupings, also known as conjunctions, during the years 3 B.C. and 2
B.C.
The show
started on the morning of June 12 in 3 B.C., when Venus could be
sighted very close to Saturn in the eastern sky. Then there was a
spectacular pairing of Venus and Jupiter on Aug. 12 in the
constellation Leo, which ancient astrologers associated with the
destiny of the Jews.
Between
September of 3 B.C. and June of 2 B.C., Jupiter passed by the star
Regulus in Leo, reversed itself and passed it again, then turned back
and passed the star a third time. This was another remarkable
event, since astrologers considered Jupiter the kingly planet and
regarded Regulus as the “king star.”
The
crowning touch came on June 17, when Jupiter seemed to approach so
close to Venus that, without binoculars, they would have looked like a
single star.
Rudolf:
George Mason University's History News Network says Montgomery Ward gave us Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer.
I am wondering how long it will be before somebody rewrites the Christmas story to make Santa less fat. Somebody will. Trust me.
An Especially Bright Mars The planet Mars will be especially bright tonight. In fact, it will be the brightest it has been in years. It won't be this bright again until 2016.
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