Free Republic

... In December, we never left Washington, D.C., until the day after Christmas. Never. Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, would always depart the White House a few days before the holiday and hunker down at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. After a few years, I asked a low-level White House staffer why. I still remember what she said: "So all of us can be with our families on Christmas." ... By the way, some years, I got holiday duty, which meant I was off to Waco, Texas, the day after Christmas. But once again, the Bush White...

The holiday season seems to go on forever, only to finally extinguish itself in a brilliant blaze of football and parades on New Year’s Day. It is an endless litany of Christmas music and movies, a bustling, shopping mania. The season practically drowns in the myriad of commercials, advertising everything material one can purchase. It’s a season of family time and families making plans to go here or there and everywhere. It is a frenetic period of apparent jovial distractions from life’s endless responsibilities. To a vet, the holiday season is something else entirely. Is Christmas ever the same again,...

Paris police are reportedly discouraging Jews from lighting the menorah to mark Hanukkah this weekend, after a series of terror attacks last month killed and wounded hundreds. The warning comes as some Jewish leaders have expressed concern about anti-Semitic threats, after Islamic State group supporters attacked several locations -- including a theater that held pro-Israel events -- on Nov. 13. Jewish organizations in Paris had vowed to hold public Hanukkah ceremonies, including a live concert, starting at sundown Sunday to honor the Jewish holiday. The Jewish outreach organization Chabad Lubavitch is sponsoring more than 60 celebrations and nightly public menorah...

While a few members of my extended family celebrate Thanksgiving as a prelude to the sales that follow Thanksgiving, I think of it as the day before the turkey leftovers. To me, there is nothing better than a leftover turkey sandwich with mayonnaise, spicy mustard, icebox lettuce and tomato. We know the first American Thanksgiving story. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims and Indians came together to share their harvest. Since then, Thanksgiving has become a day of family gatherings, feasting and football. While growing up in Carrollton, Georgia, I looked forward to Thanksgiving weekend, when our small town put...

SouthPark mall made a mistake when it chose to replace its traditional Christmas tree with a faux glacier, the company’s president said Sunday, and the controversial display will be removed sometime Monday. “It was a mistake, and we had to correct,” Simon Mall President David Contis said Sunday. “If we lose money, so be it.” Indianapolis-based Simon Malls owns SouthPark as well as Charlotte Premium Outlets and Concord Mills. SouthPark Mall shoppers did not take kindly to the mall replacing its traditional Christmas tree with the controversial glacier as part of its Santa display, so the shopping center announced this...

Link only: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2015-11-02/flan-and-dominoes-how-ted-cruz-spends-the-holidays

Just days before Halloween, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) warned that the holiday’s ever-present jack-o-lanterns are killing the planet. Yes, you heard that right. Big government minions are trying to ruin what should be a joyous holiday for kids (and adults too) with another climate scare story.

Greetings and salutations on this most patriotic of days. I hope that this Independence Day finds you all safe and well, with plenty of time to spend with friends and family, as well a chance to contemplate the past and future of our country. Given the importance which I’m sure most of you reading this place on the Constitution of the United States and its welfare going forward, perhaps we could start by revisiting the words of one of its chief proponents in the days of the Founding Fathers. Let’s hear from Alexander Hamilton in the opening volley of one...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a regulation for Christmas lights on Monday, deeming some holiday decorations a “substantial product hazard.”“The Consumer Product Safety Commission … is issuing a final rule to specify that seasonal and decorative lighting products that do not contain any one of three readily observable characteristics (minimum wire size, sufficient strain relief, or overcurrent protection), as addressed in a voluntary standard, are deemed a substantial product hazard under the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”),” the final rule said.The ruling applies to a variety of Christmas decorations, including “stars, wreathes, candles without shades, light sculptures, blow-molded...

Valentines Day A Kabbalistic Analysis There is a very real link between Soul Mates and Valentines Day. First, some foundation. Every week in the synagogues a section of the Torah and Prophets are read. There are special readings for festivals and special Sabbaths. Shabbat Shekalim (from Wikipedia) Shabbat Shekalim ("Sabbath [of] shekels" שבת שקלים) read in preparation for Purim, requests each adult male Jew contribute half of a Biblical shekel for the upkeep of the Tabernacle, or mishkan (משכן). The Torah portion Exodus 30:11-16 (the beginning of Parasha Ki Tisa) is read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Shabbat Notice Half! Torah Portion for Shabbat Shekalim...

While reading the Washington Post I ran across a column about a proposal by one of my home state’s (CA) legislators regarding people working on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The proposal so appealed to the Left that the proposal (not even a bill yet) was covered on the other side of the country by one of the nation’s most prestigious newspapers. It commanded me to read on to find out what this was about. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez was bemoaning the fact that more and more stores were opening on Thanksgiving and Christmas. When it comes to shopping I agree with Ms....

THE FINAL words of his final speech, delivered from the pulpit of the Mason Temple Church of God in Memphis on April 3, 1968, eerily foreshadowed the next day's catastrophe."Like anybody, I would like to live a long life," the Rev. Martin Luther King told his listeners, who had braved a thunderstorm to be there. "Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain…. I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to...

Did you know that "Kwanzaa," that made-up holiday celebrated from December 26 through January 1, was invented by Ron N. Everett, known today as Dr. Maulana (Swahili for "master teacher") Karenga? About Kwanzaa, Karenga said: People think it’s African. But it’s not. I wanted to give black people a holiday of their own. So I came up with Kwanzaa. I said it was African because you know black people in this country wouldn’t celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that’s when a lot of bloods [blacks] would be partying!...

Every year, in the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I think about George W. Bush. It was in that week each year for the eight years I covered him as a reporter that he gave me a spectacular gift — and he knew it. I started covering the newly elected president in 2000, when I was in my 30s. Back then, as a reporter for The Washington Times, we went everywhere the president went. If he went to Charlotte, North Carolina, to give a 30-minute speech on an airport tarmac, we went. Up at 4 a.m., an hourlong commute...

(CNSNews.com) - "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." But WAIT! Stop the music -- What is the moisture content of those logs? Before burning the logs, did you knock them together to see if they sounded hollow? You really should go dashing through the snow to your local hardware store in search of a "moisture meter," the perfect gift for that environmentally paranoid person on your Christmas list. Those people are so hard to please, aren't they? And be sure to check your local air quality forecast on airnow.gov before lighting a fire. Alas, the Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that,...

America's Christophobes have been plenty busy lately. Maybe the Christmas season makes them especially nervous. A few weeks ago, Atlanta Fire Rescue Department Chief Kelvin Cochran was suspended for a month without pay for the unforgivable sin of self-publishing a Christian book in which he expressed his disapproving views about homosexual behavior, among other things. City spokeswoman Anne Torres said: "We understand that (Cochran) was distributing the book to other employees. We are still not sure yet what the circumstances surrounding that are. ... The bottom line is that the (Mayor Kasim) Reed administration does not tolerate discrimination of any...

Mr. C. Douglas McMillon President and Chief Executive Officer Walmart Corporate Office Headquarters 702 SW 8th Street Bentonville, AR 72716 Dear Mr. McMillon, This is a happy letter that I'm so pleased to be writing, because it's about a very positive experience I had at one of your stores in the Chicago suburban area on Saturday December 6, 2014, and the experience left me very hopeful about the future of Christmas in America. Like many others, I had been under the impression for a number of years now that Walmart customer service associates were "not allowed" to wish their customers...

5 free things to see and do in NYC at Christmastime, from trees to windows NEW YORK – The Christmas season is one of New York City's busiest times of year. Tickets for Broadway shows and hotel rooms go for premium prices and lines for top attractions are long. But some of the best and most beautiful things to see and do around the city during the holidays are free. Here are five of them. STORE WINDOWS

December, a time for choral concerts, band performances, orchestra recitals, cocktail parties, holiday markets, family gatherings and final exams. Almost everyone is overbooked and overworked, exhausted and running on empty. Busy schedules lead to being away from home one night after the other, to the detriment of family dinners, early bedtimes and balanced meals. The temptations of food and drink are too enticing to ignore. Rich food, sweet succulent desserts and holiday cocktails tantalize our taste buds and lead us into temptation and indulgence -- and then to nights of unsound sleep. In my case, I often awaken the next...