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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City group called the “Elves of Christmas Present” led a massive secret conspiracy to surprise a sick child with an extraordinary gift for Christmas. The Kansas City, Mo. Police Department needed help solving a special case, and they called in 15-year-old Tashawn Thompson, who fighting a life-threatening disease, to help them solve it. “I’m going to grow up and be big and strong and be like one of the policemen,” said Thompson. A secret elf showed up at Thompson’s house Wednesday with a note from Kansas City Mayor Sly James. Thompson has always wanted...

Christmas Greetings from Obama Claus, and from the left, Nora, Aife, Jack and Ruarc.

Our annual Christmas Day radio listening merely begins with two jewels from a master satirist: The Linit Bath Club Revue: The Mammoth Department Store (CBS, 1932) Here’s a treat for any old-time radio fan—the oldest known surviving program hosted by the singular Fred Allen, in whose spotlight sketch he plays a man with a sometimes unenviable profession: managing a department store . . . on the day after Christmas. Hopefully, without driving himself crazy. Cast: Portland Hoffa, Sheila Barrett, Roy Atwell, Charles Carlile. Announcer: Ken Roberts. Music: Lou Katzman Orchestra, Mary Leaf at the organ. Writer: Fred Allen. Texaco Star...

Americans received a special Christmas present from the White House: a two-for-one package. Barack Obama’s weekly message also featured a message from his wife and even took the time to mention Jesus, despite the fact that the Obamas have traditionally eschewed going to church on Christmas. By way of contrast, as Mark Knoller of CBS News noted at the end of 2013, George W. Bush attended church 120 times during his eight-year tenure; Obama had attended church a grand total of 18 times in his first five years. Ronald Reagan did not visit church on Christmas, but he offered a...

There may be no exact translation for “humbug” in Chinese, but in recent days, as popular fervor for the trappings of Western-style Christmas enveloped this officially atheist nation, the defenders of traditional Chinese culture have fought back with Scrooge-like zeal. On Wednesday, university students in the central province of Hunan held an anti-Christmas pageant with banners declaring “Chinese should not celebrate foreign festivals.” Education officials in the coastal city of Wenzhou issued a decree banning the celebration of Christmas-themed events at schools. Students at a university in northwestern China were forced to endure three hours of propaganda films, including one...

Hitler’s Last Christmas The holiday season in Germany is traditionally celebrated on three days — Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and December 26th. Christmas 1944 was the sixth Christmas that Hitler had spent in the toils of the titanic struggle that he had unleashed on Europe, already widely known as the Second World War. Christmas 1944 saw the German leader in the midst of his last great gamble — the Ardennes Offensive in the West. Near Zeigenberg, Germany, Adolph Hitler commanded the great offensive from his Adlerhorst Headquarters (The “Eagle’s Nest”). Deep within its catacombs the self-proclaimed leader of the Third...

Queen Elizabeth has used her traditional Christmas broadcast to call for reconciliation, citing the Scottish referendum and Northern Ireland. Read more: http://bit.ly/1B64MNu

Talk about a Christmas gift. Police in Lowell, Michigan, turned on their flashing lights, pulled over drivers — and offered wrapped presents. A video posted to YouTube showed the shocked responses. And it wasn’t just a couple of drivers who received the holiday kindness — about 50 motorists who otherwise would have been ticketed for minor offenses, a local NBC News affiliate reported. Salvador Galeno, one of the motorists, said, “I was thinking, ‘I was not driving over the speed limit. What could it be?’” The officer befuddled Mr. Galeno with seemingly unrelated questions: “The Xbox One, that’s what your...

And the bells chimed for victory at 1211 Avenue of the Americas. The so-called War on Christmas, says overpaid bloviator Bill O’Reilly, has been won by his god-fearing, flag-flourishing side. “We won the war,” the Fox News personality proclaimed last week. “I have to confess, you know, I’m like a guerrilla fighter in the War on Christmas…We did this War on Christmas thing for about 10 years. This is the first year I didn’t get one call or letter saying, ‘This store has said it won’t say [“Merry Christmas”].’” Hallelujah.

He was born in a barn to penniless parents who were part of a people under occupation. Get it? So why do so many of us not get it? I’m against the War on Christmas. No not that one! Wishing someone “Happy Holidays” doesn’t rob Christmas of its meaning—after all, being sensitive to others’ religious beliefs ought to be the attitude of every Christian. And not the one that says we have over-commercialized Christmas—after all, there’s nothing wrong with a time of year when we purchase thoughtful gifts for those we love.

Couldn't the New York Times put aside its hostility to traditional religion on Christmas Day and feature a column by a believing Christian? No, it couidn't. Instead, believers who blunder onto the online op-ed page today are hit with a lead column entitled "Religion Without God." And just in case you didn't get the message, there's a second column called "An Atheist’s Christmas Dream."

Almost four decades ago, when I was in Mrs. Carmichael's Sunday School class, I memorized Luke Chapter 2, (the King James version of course). It took hours of practice and study, but the words still come when prompted by the line before. Below is the King James Version with my comments for reflection. "And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." The world revolves around government and money. "(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria." Provides us with a...

Six men and a woman were wounded during separate shootings since Wednesday in Chicago. In the latest shooting, a 25-year-old man was shot during a robbery around 2 a.m. in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines. The man was in the 6000 block of South Carpenter Street when he was approached by two male offenders who announced a robbery and then fired gunshots, striking him in the leg. The offenders fled the scene with the man's jacket and cell phone.

Governor Palin posted to her Facebook:A special Merry Christmas to our brave men and women in uniform – especially those serving us far from home.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed…until such time as an angel appeared to  the false king named Barack and said unto him: “That’s right Barack…you didn’t build that yourself; somebody else made that happen.” Behold his glory: And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall...

Samaritan's Purse included 60,000 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes in our latest airlift from Baltimore to Erbil. These special gifts will bring much needed joy to children displaced by ISIS. Speakers: Franklin Graham and Greta Van Susteren www.samaritanspurse.ca/occ

Christmas Peace (Finnish: joulurauha, Swedish: julfrid) is a tradition based on old Scandinavian legislation created by Birger Jarl in the 13th century, extending the tradition of the Truce of God. Offenders who committed crimes on religious holidays like Christmas were given harsher punishments. Today it is a tradition to recommend that people behave in a respectful and peaceful manner at Christmas.[1] The Declaration of Christmas Peace has remained in Finland where it is an essential part of the Christmas tradition.[2]

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican's official English-language translation of Pope Francis' prepared homily, to be delivered in Italian, during Christmas Eve Mass on Wednesday in St. Peter's Basilica. Spelling and style are the Vatican's.

Seasons greetings from CAAT 1, WPNS CO, 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines. (filmed on site at Alpha 1) (As it pans across the platoon halfway through, please excuse them looking like they're watching a crucifixion; by this point they've heard the song several hundred times :) Merry Christmas! [See the lyrics on the YouTube webpage]

“Watershed Moments: Jesus’ Birth and Our Own” (John 1:1-18; Titus 3:4-7)Today is Christmas Day. This is the day for celebrating the greatest birth in the history of the world, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ marks the watershed moment in all of human history. By a “watershed moment,” I mean a moment so significant that it marks a division between what went before and what comes after. And so it is with the birth of Christ. We even divide up time according to it: “B.C.,” “Before Christ,” and “A.D.,” “Anno Domini,” “In the...