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Hassle-free returns might be a thing of the past. You might want to reconsider returning that pile of unwanted gifts sitting under your tree because major retailers, like Macy’s and Zara, are charging fees for holiday gift returns. Which means that the hideous, itchy sweater Aunt Suzy excitedly gifted you this year may actually cost you more to give back than to keep. The good news is that in-store returns remain free — but if you plan to take the lazy way out by mailing something back, even if it’s unopened and in perfect condition, it’ll cost you. Macy’s is...

Our mythical figure of Father Christmas is really no more than a modern incarnation of Odin, the chief god of the Nordic peoples. The earliest evidence for this was found in the London district of Dagenham.

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The birth, life, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ are the best news and most essential truths we sinners could ever read. For the moment, push the presents, tinsel, strands of lights, and Santa-adorned decorations out of your mind. Pause and reflect on the significance of this day. It has nothing to do with “Black Friday” sales. It has nothing to do with red-nosed reindeer, talking snowmen, or North Pole elves. It is not about crackling fires, baked treats, or warm cocoa. This is the day we reflect upon the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is so...

This is Thinking In Public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about frontline theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them. I’m Albert Mohler your host and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Tara Moore teaches in the writing program at Penn State University at York. She has previously authored the book Victorian Christmas In Print. Her most recent work is Christmas The Sacred To Santa. This new book was published just this year by Reaction Books in London. Dr. Moore welcome to Thinking In Public.

I have not had much time to write for American Thinker lately because we had to put a governor back in her box after her special session shenanigans. When the regular Oregon legislature session rejected the most significant tax increase in Oregon’s history, the Oregon governor, Tina Kotek, took it upon herself to call for a special session to pass the Transportation Tax package, a $4.3 billion naked wealth grab from the taxpayers of Oregon. Kotek dragged in a cancer patient in a wheelchair and an extremely ill legislator who had not gone to the capitol for months to secure...

During the LA wildfires, I noted that the LAFD was being run by three lesbians named Kirsten. (Not a joke.) Crowley’s status as the first LGBTQ fire chief appears at the top of her bio on the LAFD site. It’s what got her on the Kelly Clarkson show under the headline, “Meet LAFD’s First Female & LGBTQ+ Fire Chief”. Kristina Kepner, the first lesbian Assistant Chief and a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School for Managing Diverse Organizations, was accused of a domestic violence incident involving her girlfriend. Kristine Larson, who has a degree in Sociology, headed ‘Equity on Fire’,...

The Constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of religion, but this isn’t just a religion. And the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact. Islam is a brutally misogynistic, brutally homophobic, brutally xenophobic, supremacist political ideology, pretending to be a religion. And it needs to be viewed that way by Western civilization. No matter how peaceful most Muslims seem, eventually a charismatic leader will come along who will radicalize them, for his own aggrandizement. That’s what’s going on right now in Iran. Adolf Hitler had a Muslim infantry division in the Waffen SS for very good reasons. Islamists love killing Jews, which...

Deck the halls with Benjamins! A Powerball player in Arkansas won the $1.82 billion jackpot winning ticket on Wednesday night, the second-largest jackpot in lotto history. The winning numbers for the Christmas Eve drawing were 4, 25, 31, 52, 59 and the Powerball 19. The lucky winner can choose between the $1.82 billion prize paid out over 29 years or the one-time lump sum of $834.9 million. The drawing was initially marketed at $1.7 billion, but the pot was raised to the new life-changing figure after final ticket sales were tallied. It is the second time the Powerball grand prize...

One of the greatest hockey stars to lace up their skates in Minnesota spread some holiday cheer by dropping by the house of one of the state's oldest fans. 108-year-old Dorothy Heckmann was enjoying the holidays with her family while wearing her Minnesota Wild hockey jersey. But while she was lounging in her chair, she received some attention from a visitor: Hockey Hall-of-Famer Mike Modano. The priceless look of shock and joy on Heckmann's face for the surprise is worth a thousand words as Modano shook her hand. As Modano wished her a Merry Christmas, Heckmann replied, 'Oh my goodness,...

A viral post featuring a notice from a local McDonald’s restaurant is drawing new attention to concerns about rising crime in Uptown Minneapolis. Attached to a door, the sign reads: "Attention guests, effective Friday, December 5th, our dining room doors will be locked and attended [to] during our normal business hours of 5am-10pm to ensure a safe environment." "We will deny access to any individual who we consider a risk to maintaining a safe environment for our guests," it continued. McDonald's confirmed the notice to Fox News Digital. Mike Darula, local owner and operator of the franchise, told Fox News...

A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled. The show’s host, musician Chuck Redd, says that he called off the performance in the wake of the White House announcing last week that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility. As of last Friday, the building’s facade reads The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. According to the White House, the president’s handpicked board approved the decision, which scholars have said violates the law. Trump had...

Christmas

A potential veto of Chicago’s 2026 budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson could trigger the Windy City's first-ever municipal shutdown. Johnson reportedly rebuked the budget passed by council over the weekend, which lacks the mayor’s favored per-employee "head tax" on corporations, as "morally bankrupt." If Johnson were to veto the budget, it would place the onus back on city council to rehash a plan that could get signed before Dec. 30 – or plunge the city into shutdown. City Council lacks any Republican representation – with a Democratic majority of 48 plus two independents, so the situation represents a clash within...

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Even foods most Americans consider "healthy" can pose serious foodborne illness risks, experts warn — and several say salads, sprouts and deli meats are among the everyday items they personally refuse to eat. One Seattle attorney who has spent decades litigating some of the country's worst foodborne illness outbreaks recently told The Washington Post that his well-done burger and steak order has prompted chefs to come out and ask what's wrong with him. "I explain what I do for a living," Bill Marler told the outlet. "It's an occupational hazard." He said he no longer touches bagged salads, fruit cups...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. IMMANUEL - GOD WITH US

It started out as a joyous Christmas Eve at the Sodder home on December 24, 1945. George and Jennie Sodder were spending the festive holiday with nine of their ten children, ages 2 to 18, at their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Then a devastating house fire broke out and five of their children - Maurice, 14; Martha Lee, 12; Louis, 10; Jennie, 8; and Betty, 5 - mysteriously perished. Four of their children had escaped; the tenth child - one of their sons - was away in the service at the time. The bodies of the five missing children...

Thousands of California residents found themselves under evacuation orders on Christmas morning, as disastrous floods and debris flows closed down major highways. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency as the holiday period was forecast to be a washout for the Golden State - with coastal areas expected to see several months' worth of rain within just a few days. Some parts of Los Angeles County had already seen more than 11 inches of rain as of Wednesday night, as more than 61,000 California residents were without power, according to PowerOutage.us. But meteorologists warn this is just...

Politico is framing the celebration of Christmas as a “far-right” front in Europe, arguing that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her party have made it a “spectacle.” Conservative social media users blasted the left-wing outlet’s Wednesday article, “How the far right stole Christmas,” authored by Rome correspondent Hannah Roberts. […] In the Christmas Eve piece, Roberts wrote that the holiday “is becoming a new front line in Europe’s culture wars,” with so-called “far-right” parties and politicians “claiming the festive season as their own.” The evidence?: Meloni’s defense of public Nativity scenes and other long-standing Christmas traditions in her majority-Catholic...