• Doesn’t feel like Labor Day without the Jerry Lewis MDA (@mdanews) Telethon. #LaborDay #WeMissJerry #
• RT @altonbrown: “Final good eats finished yesterday. The end of an era.” – Truly the end of an era. Hope to see Alton in new endeavors soon! #
• I was in a store today where they were playing Christmas music & not just one song. I love Christmas but really? In September? #
• Yesterday I heard Christmas music playing. Today sitting front of a roaring fireplace. I’m getting seasonally confused. http://t.co/WOkFKxc #

• Just finished making a big pot of rice pudding for our command’s Christmas party. #
• It just took me 3.5 hours to get home from work. How is it that a dusting of snow makes people forget how to operate a vehicle? #peoplesuck #
• This video is the definition of “WTF?” It’s the most bizarre collection of celebrities in history. http://bit.ly/dPWa0w #
• I went to 2 Christmas parties this week where they ran out of forks. Next year, I guess I should bring my own. BYOF? #

If you live in the Philadelphia area, you’ve no doubt heard about the short-lived renaming of Philadelphia’s annual Christmas Village. Just in case you aren’t familiar, Philadelphia has, for the past few years, has put on a Chriskindlmarkt in Center City outside city hall. They don’t call it a Chriskindlmarkt. They instead call it a Christmas Village. Earlier this week, the city decided to remove the word Christmas from it to avoid offending people. This ridiculous move was met with a proper level of outrage from the public and Mayor Michael Nutter had the name restored.

While I think he made the right move, it’s insane that they ever changed the name to begin with. I don’t think he’s a hero for putting out a fire that the city started to begin with. I also don’t think this is the last time we’ll hear about this. So, I feel like I should get on my virtual soapbox and shout into the wind.

I’m not a member of any religion, Christian or otherwise,  and I don’t care about what religion anyone belongs to any more than I care what race someone is. Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Pastafarian has nothing to do with the situation. I think the separation of church and state is extremely important and I think religion has no place in government. However, my argument is, and always has been, that there are really two Christmases. First, there’s the “baby Jesus Christmas.” I’m referring to the religious holiday that the Christians only celebrate. Then there’s the Christmas that’s for everyone, the “Santa Claus Christmas.” Yes, Christmas started as a religious holiday, but it has evolved into the secular version that most of us celebrate today. Christmas is about decorating, giving gifts & cards, being with family and friends and spreading goodwill. Those parts of Christmas are unrelated to religion. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and it sickens me when I hear of schools, businesses or anyone else referring to Christmas as “The Holiday” or “The Winter Holiday.” It just seems ridiculous. I’ve never read the Bible but I’m pretty sure that there’s no mention of Santa Claus, eggnog, candy canes or flying reindeer in there.

So, I’m very glad that the for once, the whiney minority was shut down by the sane majority. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s a sweet victory when it does.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s article regarding the Christmas Village debacle is here.

Some photos from previous visits to the Christmas Village can be found in the Photos section of this site.

• Just started listening to Christmas music. Trying to jumpstart my Christmas spirit. Some late night shopping later tonight will help too. #
• I never understood why kids were mallrats when I was a kid. I still don’t. #
• Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has a great turkey day! #
• It’s snowing on Thanksgiving! What a cool way to start the holiday season! (no pun intended) #
• Black Friday is the only morning of the year I’m happy to be out of the house WAY before the sun comes up. #
• The 15 hour long Black Friday shopping marathon has come to an end. It was a very productive year! #

I just updated my mother’s towel catalog for the first time in a while. Halloween, Fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas are all coming up and there are towels for each! Of course, the everyday ones make great gifts too! Take a look look at what’s available here.

• @frostwoman But it’s only a 3.5 day week. That’s gotta soften the blow a little. (2.5 for me with snow day & RDO! yay!) in reply to frostwoman #
• RT @NASA: “NASA’s Aqua satellite caught the East Coast after the weekend storm. http://tinyurl.com/yagpdxh" – wow! #
• Happy Festivus to all! http://bit.ly/5wHcvN #
• Merry Christmas to all! Hope Santa brings you exactly what you want tonight. Christmas Eve is by far my favorite day of the year. #christmas #
• Watch as NORAD tracks Santa’s journey today. http://bit.ly/5RalWp (@noradsanta) – a great Christmas tradition from the Defense Department #
• Last Christmas visit to this church. It’s going out of business 12/31. Will have to shop for new one for next year. http://twitpic.com/v05ut #
• RT @noradsanta: “Breaking news!! #Santa was just spotted in North America!!! ” – geez, better head to bed! LOL #
• I just saw Santa sitting in Luigi’s pizza. Silly us, leaving cookies & milk all those years. We should’ve left him a slice! #
• Happy Boxing Day! Glad I have nothing to return today! #

• Making rice pudding… lots of rice pudding. #
• Night 2… Making MORE rice pudding… lots MORE rice pudding. #
• @GermanXmas Going to church on Christmas Eve then coming home and having a big feast of Jewish deli meats. Odd, but very memorable! in reply to GermanXmas #
• Used Windows 7 for the first time last night. It feels like Vista. Still like XP best if I’m forced to use Windows. #
• @GermanXmas Did you get the DM with my address? Twitter was acting funny when I sent it. Thanks! #

• FINALLY just mailed my Christmas cards. I’m way behind! This is the latest I’ve ever mailed them. I usually have them out by Black Friday. #
• RT @digitalkitty: “Best. Elevator. Ever. http://i.imgur.com/XwYtO.jpg spaghetti monster FTW! Haven’t heard enough about him lately. #
• If all of this rain was snow, today would be a great day. But no, we get flash floods instead. Stupid mother nature. #
• I take back what I said about mother nature. If not for the flooding, I wouldn’t have found a big leaking can of water seal in the basement. #
• Just post an updated crocheted towel catalog. 12 new Christmas patterns! http://bit.ly/32PTIn #
• RT @patricknorton: “6 Reasons Bacon is Better Than True Love: http://bit.ly/70pNCY" #
• At Philadelphia Christkindlmarkt embracing my German side. Eating wurst/kraut & doing Christmas shopping! Oh yeah & yummy German cookies too! #

• Out shopping for Christmas lights. Yes, I know what time it is. Walmart is totally jammed by the way! #
• Scott Adams is right. This is an overlooked, yet important market. Computers need to be like appliances for seniors. http://bit.ly/8H7Uvt #

• It’s time of year again. Pumpkin spice coffee! @MelittaUSA makes the best. And they wake me up as I pass their roasting plant every morning. #
• XM Holly is playing a New Kids on the Block Christmas song. Program director has got to be a
  30 year old woman. #
• RT @amazonmp3: “use code MP34FREE to get $3 credit toward songs or albums at Amazon MP3. http://bit.ly/MP34FREE #MM” – great deal! #
• RT @PhillyInquirer: “Tip refuseniks to see charges dropped. http://bit.ly/72tFLo" – Hope they sue the Lehigh Pub. Forced tips are just wrong #
• Over the river and through the woods to Thanksgiving lunch we go. Happy Thanksgiving to all. #thanksgiving #
• Black Friday shopping! Woohoo! #
• @Target security guards are keeping people from cutting the line. Way to go! More stores need that on Black Friday. #
• Sears is letting a Ginsu salesman hand out free knives on Black Friday. This can’t end well. #
• 16 stores down. Breaking for lunch then on to more Black Friday madness. #blackfriday #
• About 20 stores & 3 malls later Black Friday shopping is done for another year. #blackfriday #
• A squirrel is burying animal crackers in my yard. I’m not gonna be happy if giraffes and tigers start sprouting up next spring! #

• Ironically, there was a really good article about the Philadelphia Sports Complex in this morning’s NY Times. http://bit.ly/1Offgc #phillies #
• and the Fightin’ Phils are still in it! #phillies #worldseries #
• Dear #Phillies Now would be the time for a come from behind victory. You go ahead & do that. I’ll stay here and watch. Thanks in advance. #
• RT @BrentSpiner: Suggest a new mode of behavior in US. No more shaking hands. Japanese got it right. Bowing is the way. No spread of germs. #
• Just heard Christmas music playing in a store for the first time this year. A festive reminder that November is here. #

Longwood Gardens is a fun place to visit all year long but at Christmas time it’s a totally different place. The amount of lights and flowers is astounding. They’ve really exapanded the displays since the last time I was there two years ago.

Because we were there after dark this year, there aren’t as many great photos, but there was plenty of cold weather and Christmas lights which is all it takes to make me happy apparently! Check out the photos here.

I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

After going to the Bethlehem Chriskindlmarkt, we stopped at Koziar’s Christmas Village. It was the first time I’ve been there since I was a little kid. It’s only grown more impressive over the years. My photos don’t do it justice.

When I think of Christmas it conjures images of small towns with rows of little stores selling gifts in Germany. OK, so maybe not the Germany part. However, a really cool Christmas tradition does come from Germany. It’s the Chriskindlmarkt. Bethlehem, PA (a.k.a. Christmas City) puts on a huge one every year. I finally got a chance to go to it this year. It was a fun day of shopping and some sightseeing.

Then i heard Philadelphia was putting on one of their own at City Hall. It was called the Philadelphia Christmas Village. While not as big it will hopefully be an annual event because it has real potential.

Check out my photos from Bethlehem and then take a look at my photos of Philadelphia.