Free Republic

HE WAS the young Scot who sailed to America to seek his fortune and ended up becoming the first department store Santa. Now the memory of James Edgar is being revived in an effort to boost the fortunes of his adoptive home of Brockton, Massachusetts. Born in Edinburgh in 1843, Edgar escaped the poverty of his childhood by moving to Brockton in 1878, where he set up a department store. Known for his progressive ideas, the entrepreneur was the first in the city to introduce electric lights and cash registers. Edgar was also known for his philanthropy, paying for local...

As a non-Christian with a deep affection for Christmastime, I've always felt a little left out around this time of year, but not in the way you might think. I've always felt a bit out of place with the venerable conservative tradition of denouncing the "war on Christmas." I should offer some background. When I was a kid, my parents cut out a jokey headline from a local newspaper that read "Santa Knows We're Jewish" and put it on a cardboard Christmas tree ornament. My father insisted I be raised Jewish. (I went to a Jewish day school and was...

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — Thousands of drunken Santas terrorized Lower Manhattan when they flooded into the neighborhood for SantaCon earlier this month, openly flouting public drinking and urination laws, locals say. Angry residents attended Community Board 1's Monday night meeting to complain about the latest incarnation of the annual pub crawl, whose participants have been allowed to grow more rowdy every year, they say. "There was public urination, people vomiting all over the place, open containers and no police," said John Fratta, chairman of the Seaport/Civic Center Committee which plans to send an angry missive to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police...

I just wanted to share this link with everyone, someone gave it to me and I think it's the neatest thing! It's a site that generates a video for your child, can include their name, upload pictures, etc. and is COMPLETELY FREE! As far as I know, there's no spam either, as I did not check the box to have more information on other stuff sent to me but you can choose either "nice" or "naughty" where the child will still have time to work towards nice but receives a reminder from Santa. The only thing a bit odd is...

Springfield Secret Santas Pay Off Layaway Bills for Needy FamiliesDecember 17, 2011 | Mary Moloney, KSPR News Reporter SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Good Samaritans have found a way to help needy Springfield families this holiday season. About a dozen people walked into the South Campbell Kmart and paid for the presents of strangers whose gifts sat on layaway. "One young man came in who had gotten a $500 bonus from work. He just thought it was a great thing. He's even posted it online challenging his friends to do the same thing and he's come in and paid off several people's...

LONDON (Reuters) - A worried letter from six-year old Leo Park sparked a mammoth operation to test what is believed to be the world's first chimney specifically designed to accommodate Santa Claus. The little boy's parents are having a house custom built and when Leo viewed the plans he was concerned that the chimney wasn't big enough for Father Christmas and his famous belly that shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly. As he was penning his traditional letter to Santa, Leo decided to also write a heartfelt missive about the chimney design problem to Jeremy Paxton,...

Created for OMG! For America

Christmas in America is a season of time-honored traditions: The sacred performance of the annual ACLU lawsuit over the presence of an insufficiently secular "holiday" tree. The ritual provocations of the atheist displays licensed by pitifully appeasing municipalities to sit between the menorah and the giant Frosty the Snowman. The familiar strains of every hack columnist's "war on Christmas" column rolling off the keyboard as easily as Richard Clayderman playing "Winter Wonderland" ... This year has been a choice year. A crucified skeleton Santa Claus was erected as part of the "holiday" display outside the Loudoun County courthouse in Virginia...

Click the link. :)

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps. "DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. "Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. "Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' "Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa...

Santa better have a Kleenex and a backup plan when he reads the letters addressed to him that are trickling into the Cleveland post office. The view of the world from young letter writers is both depressing and inspirational, laid out in pencil, Crayon and fancy computer font. Regardless of their presentation, their requests go well beyond anything I've seen advertised on the Qubo Channel. I generally resist sentimental journeys because they lack authenticity. Nonetheless, this week I visited the large postal processing center on Orange Avenue, not far from Progressive Field, to take a peek the letters addressed to...

NO SANTA IN YOUR KID’S SCHOOL? QUIT WHINING. We have some government school bureaucrats in Texas who have decided that there will be no Santa Clause in the classrooms this year. Their first excuse was that Santa was representative of a particular religion. Then, when the inevitable stink arose, they switched their stance and said it was all because Santa Clause would be a distraction. Yeah right. The reason that they didn’t want Santa in the classroom was because he is competition, not a distraction. Remember, this is government; and government doesn’t like competition. What’s more, unlike the private sector,...

Ho, ho, ho is the same in any language. It’s Santa’s other expressions that can pose a challenge in multicultural South Florida. Although St. Nick is known more for listening than his gift of gab, children can better relate to a Santa who talks like them, advocates say.

Even the Grinch would not be this mean. A sourpuss teacher in Rockland County ruined Christmas for a class full of second-graders this week, when she told them that there is no Santa Claus during a lesson about the North Pole. The evil educator even told the youngsters - mostly 7- and 8-year-olds - that the presents under their trees were put out by their parents, and not St. Nick. The stunning Scrooge-like behavior has caused a blizzard of outrage at the quiet George W. Miller Elementary School in Nanuet, where angry parents would like to see the teacher roasted...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c_mPevNk8E

U.S. President Barack Obama sings a Christmas carol with Santa Claus during the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington December 1, 2011.

Senate Republicans and Democrats have finally reached an iron-clad, bipartisan agreement to cap spending. Their Secret Santa presents won't cost more than $10. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., organized the Senate gift exchange, which will take place at a holiday party sometime next month. An outspoken liberal voice, former "Saturday Night Live" funnyman Franken would seem an odd partner for the conservative, buttoned-down Johanns. "We're as near to polar opposites as you could find in the Senate," Johanns acknowledged, "and yet I think it's a good idea, and when he asked me I didn't hesitate a...

Santa under cross examination in court for sexual harassment. Reports suggest several other women are coming forward with similar allegations. The sheer number of these allegations weigh heavily against this public figure and beg the question, "Is Santa right for this position?"

Wanna know how to make Cancer patients feel better? Fire Santa. It's not even Thanksgiving yet and Santa Claus was fired then rehired (after a firestorm of "passionate response" from the public) at Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, South Carolina: For each of the past two years, hospital volunteer Frank Cloyes spent one day as St. Nick, spreading good cheer and snacks to patients sitting through chemotherapy treatments. The 67-year-old James Island resident, a retired insurance executive who calls himself a "gregarious guy," paid for his own costume rental. On Tuesday morning, a volunteer coordinator told Cloyes his services...

It is now fairly well known that President Barack Obama enjoyed a close relationship with the socialists, Trotskyites and "former" communists, who made up Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. It is less well known, that while a California Congressman, Obama's Secretary of Defense nominee Leon Panetta also worked closely with Santa Cruz based members of the US's largest Marxist organization. [caption id="attachment_7498" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Hugh DeLacy"][/caption] A key point of contact was Hugh DeLacy, Panetta's friend and correspondent, from at least 1976, until his death in 1986. DeLacy was a long time Communist Party USA member, who worked closely with...