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The 2006 ExGeeEye Tree Tree and lights: Artificial 6-ft tree pre-strung with mini multi-color lights. Topper: Star-shaped with several clear lights. Garland: gold foil. Ornamentation: Shiny balls, satin balls with glitter, shapes in blown glass and glitter, tchotchkies of various kinds including a keychain from Jerusalem, and assorted candy canes, placed by my adopted niece and nephew.

Christmas: Alone & Lonely? Terrorism of the Soul For so many Christmas is a time of fun, happy preparations & warm memories. For so many Christmas is a time of emptiness, regrets & loneliness. For so many Christmas is the saddest, most depressing time of the year. For so many Christmas is a time of seeing the grass greener on the other side. If you are in the negative arena, you DO NOT HAVE TO REMAIN THERE. The underlying circumstances may not change (dumped by spouse/significant other, kids just rather ignore you, other friends are locked up with family,...

Christmas comes but once a year - although in some areas it just happens to come much sooner than others.Like in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, where the festive lights came on last Friday - and stayed on throughout the weekend - because of health and safety checks. Stunned visitors to the market town found themselves strolling beneath thousands of colourful bulbs a full 80 days before Christmas day itself and just a couple of weeks into autumn. Chief critic of the £36,000 out-of-season display was Tory county councillor Paul Hopfensperger - despite the fact his wife, Rebecca, is responsible...

I'm in charge of decorations for my Republican group's candidate forum. I'm looking for specifically Republican themed decorations, not just red, white and blue - but I'm not having much luck. Any help in directing me to a source is appreciated!

Discovery of Ancient Stucco Decorations in Khuzestan The latest archaeological excavations in the historical city of Shooshtar led to the discovery of the first stucco decoration in the ancient times. Tehran, 18 December 2005 (CHN) -- Archaeological excavations resulted in the discovery of 2000-year-old stucco decoration on a wall belonging to the end of the Parthian and beginning of the Sassanid era in the historical city of Shooshtar in Khuzestan province. Archaeologists believe that the moldings should have belonged to the aristocrats of Dastva city. A part of a stucco decorated window belonging to 2000 years ago had also been...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Written 12/15/2004 Updated 12/16/04 Updated 12/19/04 Updated 12/22/04 With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. Download Oh Holy NightMP3 (organ instrumental)...

Written 12/15/2004 Updated 12/16/04 Updated 12/19/04 Updated 12/22/04 With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. Download Oh Holy NightMP3 (organ instrumental)...

Alright, it's that time of year again. Yup, people in Dyker Heights going nuts. It's a beautiful thing. I apologize that I couldn't post more photos that capture the true panamoric view that you should get. Maybe next year. Amateur photographer, here.

I am looking at the front page, top center story in the Sacramento Bee for Friday, December 3, 2004, the gist of which is that a Christmas tree was erected in the rotunda of the Federal courthouse in Sacramento. Soon after, an attorney donated a Menorah to the display to commemorate Hanukkah, which almost immediately aroused a controversy, as a result of which both the Menorah and the Christmas tree were removed, which aroused another controversy, whereupon the Menorah and the Christmas tree were restored to the rotunda, and ever since a debate has raged whether it is permissible to...

PORTSMOUTH - It takes at least "a few days" for Christine Schule to adorn her Wamesit Place apartment with what she characterizes as some much-needed Christmas cheer.That cheer comes in the form of not only presents, but also ample Christmas lights on outside windows on the first and second floors. This year, she has lighted decorations of a snowflake, a candy cane and an angel, not to mention the wired wreath hanging outside her front door.The electric ornaments are a staple for some residents of the public housing complex managed by the Portsmouth Housing Authority. There have even been some...

Unfortunately, it isn't only nativity scenes and Santas that make an appearance every Christmas. The holiday season also heralds the annual return of Scrooge and the Grinch. Or, as they're known in Bellevue, Wash., these days, Sidney and Jennifer Stock. The Stocks are atheists who want Bellevue's city council to remove the Christmas tree from the lobby of City Hall. Since "it is impossible for everybody's religious belief to be displayed and nonreligious belief to be displayed," Sidney Stock told reporters last week, "no religious beliefs [should] be displayed." Jeff Jacoby's e-mail address is jacoby@globe.com © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper...

Written 12/15/2004 Updated 12/16/04 Updated 12/19/04 With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. Download Oh Holy NightMP3 (organ instrumental) and listen...

With all the legislative attack on Christianity this season headed by liberal groups such as the ACLU (liberal anti-Christ union), many private Christian citizens around America are retaliating by putting simplistic to extraordinary effort in the Christmas decorations they are displaying in their front yards. If liberals are serious about their intention to secularize the entire nation, they're eventually gonna have to come out to Parker, Colorado from where these pictures have been taken. Christmas is about Jesus Christ, no matter how it has been argued. "Download "Oh Holy Night" MP3." Organizations like the ACLU are seeing to it that...

I just read John Kerry's Silver Star citation and almost fell out of my chair. Having served at one time as an "awards and decorations officer", which is an additional duty assignment for staff officers, I know full well how these citations can be colored and worded to change an "oh no!" into a "attaboy." That is what happened with Kerry's situation. He probably would have been disciplined for endangering his boat and crew, but instead, because of his political connections, they gave him what is known as a "coverup award." One of the oldest tricks in the military book...

When I decorate my house for the holiday season, I prefer to use enough lights to elicit complaints from: 1)My next-door neighbor 2)Nasty old lady down the street 3)Com Ed 4)Air Traffic Control 5)Mars

The first battle was joined about a week ago. My unit’s enemies had been enjoying many victories (all against the weak and defenseless) on battlefields outside of my area of operations when they finally showed up in a place my growling troops could get at them. I quickly consulted my small-unit leaders, analyzed the intelligence I was being provided with, called the enemy to let them know they were about to get whomped (I like to fight fair and have found that telling the enemy they are about to get their asses handed to them has a way of rattling...

"Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, told me — 30 years ago when he was still CNO —that during his own command of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam, just prior to his anointment as CNO, young Kerry had created great problems for him and the other top brass,by killing so many non-combatant civilians and going after other non-military targets.‘We had virtually to straitjacket him to keep him under control,’"

Small moments in long journeys, like small lights in a large darkness, often linger in the memory. They come unbidden, occur when you are not ready for them, and are gone before you understand them. You ‘have the experience, but miss the meaning.’ All you can do is hold them and hope that understanding will, in time, come to you. To drive from Laguna Beach to Sacramento the only feasible route takes you through Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. If you go after dark in this season of the year, you speed through an unbroken crescendo of lights...

<p>'TIS THE SEASON to argue about Christmas trees, menorahs, nativity scenes, and the separation of church and state. Do the symbols and trappings of a religious holiday in public spaces, such as state universities, municipal park grounds, high schools, or City Hall displays, exclude and oppress citizens who do not belong to the majority religion? Or do restrictions on such displays abridge religious expression in the name of sensitivity run amok? Are there Scrooges and Grinches out to steal Christmas, replacing it with a politically correct "holiday season" drained of all religious and cultural content? Is this part of a "war" by secularists against religion and Christianity in particular, as a series of recent reports on Fox News suggested?</p>