After a very difficult few months, I’m finally trying to start getting caught up with things. That includes updating my site. I just posted some photos that I took when we took my grandfather to the annual Christmas show at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA. It was a christmas gift to him from my Mom & Dad.

This particular place holds a special meaning to him and me because the threatre is on the property where there once existed The Willows Motel that he and my grandmother used to take me to when I was little. The covered bridge on their property is what started my love of covered bridges.

Check out he photos right here.

Here’s wishing you have a jous and healthy Christmas. Hopefully you are as lucky as I am to be able to take the week off and spend it with family and friends!

When you you hear about Cheyenne Mountain Complex, you probably think about a super secure military facility, men & women of our Armed Forces protecting us from attack from the sky, and maybe even the TV show Stargate SG-1 (a personal favorite of mine).

On this special day every year, the men and women of NORAD that serve 2400 feet under the ground add a very special mission to their other critical tasks.

As they have for the 52 years, NORAD will follow Santa Claus on his flight around the world. This year it’s greatly enhanced by teaming up with Google Earth to make it fun and educational. (But mainly fun!)

Track Santa at noradsanta.org.

Here’s wishing you a very Merry Christmas! I hope that you and your family the best Christmas ever!

When you think of Christmas you probably think of Christmas trees, lights, Santa Claus, a blazing fireplace, gift giving, etc. But why do these images mean Christmas to us? Whether or not you believe the Christian mythology of how Christmas started, you should know that the holiday that we celebrate every December is a result of centuries of traditions from around the world coming together to form what we as a culture call Christmas.

To learn about all of these traditions and how they shaped our current Christmas celebrations, check out this great History of Christmas site put together by the History Channel. I stumbled upon it while looking for something specific, but wound up reading every page.

Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

While looking for something using Google a few minutes ago, I stumbled upon a little Easter… errr… should I call it a Christmas Egg?

Do a search for “Christmas” or anything else that generates Christmas themed ads on the right side and you’ll see a row of Christmas trees along side your results.

Click here to see for yourself.

December has been a productive month for photography on my site. I just added even more photos. You can check out a bunch of photos from Christmas at Longwood Gardens in the Photos section.

I have to commend the Port of Seattle for correcting a really stupid mistake they made over the weekend at the Seattle Airport. They pulled down all of the Christmas trees at the airport after a rabbi complained. The employees of the individual airlines began buying their own trees to display in their ticketing areas because that is leased space and the Grinches at the Port commission couldn’t make them remove them.

However, after some public pressure the airport has now replaced the trees. They also say they did it because the rabbi said he wouldn’t sue.

I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. This is not a religious issue! While Christmas is obviously rooted in a religious tradition, their is also a secular side to the holiday. I know people who aren’t even Christians who celebrate the secular parts of Christmas. I’m not exactly a bible scholar but nowhere in the bible story do I recall hearing about Santa Claus being present at the nativity scene.

Read the article on CNN right here.

This is the funniest picture I’ve seen all day. These turkeys were spotted at a train station in Ramsey, NJ. They appeared to be waiting for a train to get out of town for Thanksgiving. I’m sure glad I got my turkey from Acme already!

This time last year the news was full of stories about retail stores that were boycotting the word Christmas in their advertising. They were saying “Happy Holidays”, “Season’s Greetings” or some other rubbish. Now this year after listening to their customers those same stores are announcing that they are going to stop pretending the holiday is not called Christmas.

While they say that they are doing it because of the complaints of the religious folks, I think that the reason reason to do this is that Christmas is NOT just a religious holiday! No where in the Christian mythology does Santa come sliding down a chimney!

There are two versions of Christmas. There is the one that the religious folks celebrate by going to a church and then there is the sectarian holiday that we all celebrate with Santa, reindeer, christmas trees etc.The ability of people to find new ways to be offended is truly amazing to me. There are many injustices in this world. Taking the time to create imaginary ones is such a waste of time.

I should note that there is one obviously exception to this new found realization that people like Christmas. Best Buy has decided to continue to attempt to be politically correct by making themselves look ridiculous and banning the word Christmas. Well, I never did like the store all that much anyway. I’ve been a loyal Circuit City customer for years now.

Read more on MSNBC.