Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year's Eve

We at Weird News BNI would like to wish all our readers a Happy New Year. Remember if you go out to make sure to have a desinated driver, and to be extra careful on the road for people who didn't have one. Also resolutions requiring small and gradual changes are more likly to be done then huge ones, so break your resolutions up into managible parts!

Auld Lang Syne

This song plays at midnight in most English speaking countries and was first published in 1796. It was an old Scottish tune that was updated by Robert Burns in the 1700’s. Translated into modern English it means “Old Long Ago”.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne? And here's a hand, my trusty friend And gie's a hand o' thine We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne

Holiday Recipe –Variations on Easy Hummus

- Replace chickpeas with one medium size eggplant that has been salted, drained and rinsed, and roasted until soft to make Babaganush (which we have no idea how to spell, sorry.)
- Replace the tahini with ½ C peanut butter and add a pinch of red pepper flakes and a dash or two of hot sauce to make a spicy peanut sauce.
- Add 2 extra cloves of garlic to make garlic hummus.
- Add 2 roasted red peppers to make roasted pepper hummus.
- Add a handful of basil and replace tahini with roasted pine nuts to make pesto hummus
- Omit tahini and olive oil and add one avocado and the juice of one lime, after blending add 1/3 C. diced tomatoes for a creamy guacamole

Holiday Question of the Day:

Of all the holidays that Americans celebrate in or around December this one is the oldest.


Answer to Yesterday’s Question: fish pie

Merry Christmas!

Happy Kwanzaa!

Holiday Recipe – Easy Hummus

1 can chickpeas (drained)
3 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 C. tahini
½ t. salt
Olive oil (about ¼-1/3 C.)

Mix chickpeas, garlic, juice, tahini and salt in a food processor. Slowly stream in olive oil until desired thickness. Serve with pita bread, chips or veggies.

Holiday Question of the Day:

In Alaska piruk is a Christmas food, what is piruk?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: spend more time with friends and family.

Holiday Recipe – Sweet and Spicy Cheese Ball

1 lb. cream cheese
½ C. crushed pineapple (drained)
½ C. chunky salsa
1/3 C. roasted pecans (chopped fine)

Mix first 3 ingredients together and then form into a ball or log shape. (wax paper is helpful) coat in pecans and refrigerate 2 hours. Serve with crackers

Holiday Question of the Day:

What is the most popular New Year’s resolution according to recent polls?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1840 in Britain, they became even more popular when the cost of mailing a card was made ½ the price of a letter.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Kwanzaa!

Holiday Recipes

We thought that you may like some quick an easy recipes for any New Year parties you may be hosting or going to. So in the next few days we will have some ones great for noshing on all night long.

Holiday Recipe – Layered Dip

Ingredients
One can refried beans
1T garlic
1T paprika
1t. chili powder
1T. onion powder
1t. pepper
3T. taco sauce
1C. salsa
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
2T. lime juice
1 Pt. sour cream
1 ½ C. shredded cheese (cheddar or taco/Mexican blend)
6 green onions (sliced)
1/3 cup black olives (sliced)

Mix refried beans, garlic, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, pepper and taco sauce together. Spread evenly in a 9” X 13” pan. Then add even layers of the remaining ingredients in the order they are listed. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Serve with tortilla chips.

Holiday Question of the Day:

When and where did the custom of sending Christmas cards start?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question:1966, it was invented by Dr. Maulana Karenga as a way to bring the African-American community together by combining parts of harvest celebrations from all over Africa together or by Ron Karenga as an alternative to Christmas. Or maybe someone else for some other reason, but everyone seams to agree on the date.

Merry Christmas !

Happy Kwanzaa!!

About Kwanzaa

We at Weird News BNI are whiter then white. First, we are mostly of European descent (excluding the .00000001% Native American all Americans who’s family has been in the county more than 4 generations are required to have, and the fact no one knows where the gypsies come from, but North Africa is a contender. ) And second, we try to avoid going outside when the evil day star is out, as it just wants to turn us red and give us skin cancer. So, giving that we are not going to attempt to explain Kwanzaa. We are going to give you links to sits explaining Kwanza made by people that might have some idea what the holiday is about.

The history channel
Wikipedia
Everything about Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa Information center

Holiday Question of the Day:

Kwanzaa was created in this year.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1st Fruits of the Harvest, actually Kawanza is short for matunda ya kwanza.

Merry Christmas !

Happy Kwanzaa!!

Boxing Day

We at Weird News BNI have always thought that Boxing Day was a day made for cleaning up after Christmas. It takes place on December 26th, the day after Christmas. It makes since that it was a day to box up Christmas decorations or to clean out all the empty boxes the presents were wrapped in. But, after actually studying it, it is actually based off St. Stephen’s day, which is on the same day. Although the exact reasons for the holiday is unknown it has to do with giving to the poor, who may have carried a box around on the day to hold the gifts. It would seem reasonable to pick this day as a day to give to the poor. First, in earlier societies that had stricter rules of society, one gave gifts to people below you, after giving to equals. Also St. Stephen was one of the 1st men chosen to be deacon, whose job it was to take care of poor widows. And so it would be a logical day to give to the poor.
But, if you too had no idea what the holiday is about, you are not alone, many people in countries that have Boxing Day, do not know the history of the holiday. Retailers use the day, and sometimes that week, as a way to sell Christmas items on sale and have Black Friday like discounts to increase sales. -T

Happy Boxing Day!

Holiday Question of the Day:

Kwanzaa means this in Swahili.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1913 it was sold at Sears for $.12.

Merry Christmas

We at Weird News BNI hope that everyone has a great holiday. And no one gets sock and underwear from their mother. (and if you get underwear from some one else, we don't want to hear about it!)

Fun Links

In case you can’t stand one more minute of family time, here are some fun links.

See the president sing “Deck the Halls”
Learn the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide
Have fun with pictures
Laugh at silly ideas
Answers you never thought you would know
Tons of Quizzes

Holiday Question of the Day:

It was in this year that the 1st artificial tree was sold in the USA.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Aries, the event was thought to be a sign that a great king would be born. Also as the changing of dates to B.C. and A.D. happened around 500 years after Jesus was born, many Bible scholars believe He was really born between 8-5 B.C.

Merry Christmas Eve

An Actual Report of a Book – The Case for Christmas

The Case for Christmas by: Lee Strobel
Non-fiction, apologetics, history, Christian living
91 pages, 9th grade reading level, 1st printed 1998

The 1st thing that you need to know about this book is the author’s background. He studied law, was a journalist and also was an atheist. The second thing you need to know, is that this book’s title is misleading, it’s not about Christmas so much as it is seeing if there is any way to rationally prove or disprove the claims of Jesus. He attempts to do this by a series of interviews with experts in different fields. 1st he uses his legal training to see if the Gospel writers could be considered reliable witnesses. Then he talks to an archaeologist for any scientific evidence that backs or refutes the Gospels. Next, he tries to see if Jesus had the attributes of God. And last he sees if Jesus fulfilled the prophesies about the Messiah from the Old Testament.
This book was a quick read but it was packed full of information and the format was interesting. We would suggest it to people who like courtroom dramas, learn about Biblical history, or want to know why Christmas is so important in the first place.

Holiday Question of the Day:

In ancient Rome Judea was represented by this constellation/sign of the zodiac and some believe that the “star” of Bethahlem was actually the lining up of Jupiter, mars, the moon, and sun in this constellation which caused an eclipse on April 16th 6 B.C.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Hallmark, before that gifts were wrapped in plain white tissue paper or not at all. Hallmark had run out of tissue paper and was forced to order envelope liner paper as a replacement. Using this colored paper quickly spread and soon wrapping paper as we know today was born.

Merry Christmas Eve, Eve

Holiday Question of the Day:

The 1st colored paper used for gift wrap was sold in 1917 by this store.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 84%

Happy Channukah!!!!!

We at Weird News BNI hope everyone had a great Hannukah.

Holiday Question of the Day:

In the US this percent of Non-Christians celebrate Christmas in some way.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Christmas elf, Shlomi aka Goofy the Elf came to Lancaster county PA to write on the Amish. While there he ran into Jim Morrison aka Santa Jr. who was starting the National Christmas Center and he ended up working for him, where he works to this day.

Happy Hanukkah!!!!

Holiday Question of the Day:

Shlomi Avigdor a native of Israel is the only know Jewish this. . .

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: La Posada

Happy Chanuko!!!!!

Holiday Question of the Day:

In Mexico this Christmas celebration reenacts Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter in Bethlehem.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Mincemeat pie, which was then shaped in a manger like rectangle with a dough figure meant to represent the baby Jesus on it. Which the Puritan objected to. Of course from our Thanksgiving blogs you may remember Puritans also were against celebrations at Christmas at all.

Happy Khanukkah!!!!

Holiday Gift Giving Guide

• We all have people on our gift list that we have no idea what to get. People like your neighbors, co-workers, that friend of a friend that always get you a gift and sisters. Here are some random, generic gifts that they might not hate.
  
  
• Money- every one likes money; however, nothing says “I put no thought into your gift” like money does. So use it as a last resort, or for people that could see it more as a Christmas bonus then a gift (Christmas bonus: Noun- extra money employers gave their employees around the holidays back when they actually pretended to care about them.) This would be people like babysitters or paperboys.
  
• Lotto tickets (scratchers) – this is a great gift to give little old ladies that go to bingo every week. But, it has the downside that you are most likely giving people useless pieces of cardboard worth nothing.
  
• Popcorn tins- everyone likes popcorn right? Funny story one year my parents and their neighbor each got the other the same tin.
  
• Gift Cards- Pro: it’s like money, only it shows some effort. Con- it’s like money you can only use at some places.
  
• Candles- give people candles, lots and lots of candles for every gift giving time.
  
• Lotion- people use lots of lotion in the winter, but what type do they like?
  
• Summer sausage- Get a guy dead animal parts and they will love you forever, or at least the 5 mins. It takes to eat.
  
• Candy- Just make sure that they are not diabetic first.
  
• Those box sets they have out at all the stores for gifts- They are scientifically designed to be liked.
  
  Well, we hope that this has helped you pick out gifts, and just remember we at Weird News BNI have lots of lotion, but could always use more money. (This is a paper, sort of.) :P

Holiday Question of the Day:

This Christmas dessert was illegal to make in Puritan England.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Wassail, which contains: ale, Sherry, spices (such as cinnamon and nutmeg), sugar, roasted apples, and bread crumbs to thicken it. It is traditionally served warm in the large communal bowl, although when wassailing carolers would take cups with them to carry individual servings as they sung.

Happy Kanukkah!!!!

Happy Kanukkah!!!!

Things that can be Fried or Deep Fried

• It is traditional during Hanukkah to eat fried foods in remembrance of the miracle of the oil. As Hanukkah continues we at Weird News B.N.I. thought that we would give you a list of fried foods, and foods that can be fried in case you are getting tired of Latkes and jelly donuts. (Note: although we think that there are ways to make kosher versions of all these dishes, we could be wrong. If so we are sorry.)
  
• Turkey- remember to follow all safety procostens when deep frying a turkey, it can be very dangerous.
  
• Chicken- also chicken nuggets, tenders etc.
  
• Burgers
  
• Corn dogs
  
• Eggs
  
• Waffles – actual all waffles are fried, as a waffle iron is a specialty fryer
  
• Empanadas
  
• Pierogies
  
• Rice
  
• Rice balls – Fridays Malto Mario had a recipe for this
  
• Ice cream
  
• Mars Bars
  
• Twinkies
  
• Funnel cakes – carnival donuts
  
• Elephant ears – same
  
• Churroes – Mexican Donuts
  
• Zeppolenies- Italian ones
  
• Onion rings
  
• Tempera Veggies
  
• Mushrooms
  
• Cheese sticks
  
• Bananas
  
• Plantains
  
• Yorkshire pudding- also always fried in an odd way
  
• Pies

Holiday Question of the Day:

This drink is England’s oldest Christmas drink still made today. It is over 500 years old and its ingredient list includes roasted apples, spices and bread crumbs.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Rejoice, when advent was first started it was mainly a time of penance, much like lent, in order to spiritually prepare oneself for the coming of the Lord at Christmas. That is why purple is mostly used, the same as in Lent; however, the 3rd week was set aside as a time to rejoice at the coming of the Lord. Which is why there is a pink candle, and priest would wear rose colored vestments. (And in modern times often note that they are wearing rose and not pink, as if rose was a more manly color.)

Happy Xanuka!!!

Holiday Question of the Day:

Today is the 3rd Sunday in Advent and the day that the pink candle is traditionally lit. It is also know as Gaudete Sunday after the opening antiphon that was used in the Latin Mass. What is Gaudete translated into English?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: the Hanukiyah

Happy Channukah!!!!!

How to Say Merry Christmas around the World

Afrikaans: Geseende Kerfees
Arabic: Milad Majid
Basque: Zorional eta Urte Berri On
Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce
Chinese( Cantonese): Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun
Chinese (Mandarin): Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Danish: Glaedelig Jul
Dutch: Zalig Kerstfeast
Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon
Farsi: Cristmas-e shoma mobarak bashad
French: Joyeux Noel
Greek: Kala Christouyenna
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo’adim Lesimkha Chena tova
Hindi: Shub Naya Baras
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto Kurisumasu Omedeto
Navajo: Meri Kirihimete
Norwegian: God Jul
Polish: Boze Narodzenie
Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen

Holiday Question of the Day:

In Israel the menorah used at Hanukkah is called this. . .

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 20 cubits high, or 360 inches (30 feet). The world’s tallest menorah was most likely the one made in 1997 in Latrun, Israel that was more than 60 feet tall.

Happy Hanukkah!!!!

Correction- Holiday Gift Givinng Guide

We are WNBNI would like to correct our office holiday gift giving guide, we now own the Office Space Kit. We apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Thank you, The Editors

Happy Hanukkah!!!!

Of course we know that Hanukkah doesn’t start until sundown, but as Shabbat also starts at sundown, (remember light the Hanukkah candles first, as you can’t light them after you light the candle starting Shabbat) we thought we would wish you a Happy Hanukkah now in case you are Jewish and can’t trick a gentile into checking our blog for you.

End of year Tax Planning

It’s almost the end of the year. So that means it’s time to get in all your last minute tax deductions in. So here is a list of Charities to give to for last minute tax deductions.

Cross International – www.crossinternational.org – This organization works to help improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. Including feeding, housing, and schooling kids and adults. Also 98.8% of the money goes directly to helping people, one of the highest amounts for a charity.

Feed the Children –www.feedthechildren.org- This organization works to help improve the life of children around the world. Also you could watch the commercial with the train with out feeling bad.

Food Bank of Eastern Michigan – www.fbem.org- This organization provides food for hungry people in Eastern Michigan and is one of the top food banks in the country.

Ronald McDonald House – www.rmhc.com- This organization works to provide housing to families whose children are in hospitals.

St. Jude Children’s Hospital – www.stjude.org- This organization works to treat sick children and find cures for childhood illnesses. If you don’t care about tax deductions you can do some holiday shopping at Kohl’s to give to them too, just buy “Kohl’s cares for Kids” items.

The Red Cross – www.redcross.org- Do we need to explain about the Red Cross?

World Wildlife Fund –www.worldwildlife.org- This organization works to save animals around the world. You can also get a visa connected to them.

Holiday Question of the Day:

According to the Code of Jewish Law, what is the maximum height a kosher menorah can be?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: the Jesse Tree

The Legend of the Hanukah Bush

Many people think that the Hanukah Bush is a new invention, as if a bunch of Jewish kids with Christian friends whined to their parents that their friends all had cool trees with twinkle lights and decorations and gifts piled up the ceiling and all they had were some itty bitty candles, a top and some chocolate coins, so their parents made up the Hanukah Bush so they could have greenery, twinkle lights and decorations too. But, that is not true; the story of the Hanukah Bush is as old a Hanukah itself. It all started after the Macabee’s Revolt won back the Temple. As we mentioned earlier the Greeks had taken over the place and used it for their own temple, so the place was littered with statues of Zeus, Apollo, Venus and Pluto and covered with pigs’ blood, rabbits, bat guano, and lobsters.(How they got lobsters in the middle of the desert, we have no idea.) The shops on the outside had all been changed to bacon cheeseburger stands and leper whorehouses. When the Jewish leaders saw this 5 had a heart attack, and 3 invented Yiddish because they needed two languages to begin to explain how they felt. A quick search of the areas not covered in unclean things revealed 1 small jar of oil that was OK and that it would take at least 8 days to repurify the Temple. At this point the group divided into two camps about how to fix the problem. One group felt that they had worked so hard to get the Temple back, that no matter what they were going to fix it. The other group thought that the important thing was that they got the Temple back and could now follow all the rules of Judaism, which included not touching unclean things, and so the only thing to do was burn everything inside the Temple (excluding the Ark [hopefully].) by letting it dry up and setting a brush firer outside of the Temple and if that didn’t work it would only take a few generations to build a new one. Neither group could convince the other group to join their group, so they decided to each work on their idea. So the first group started cleaning out everything and the second group started finding kindling. As you know the first group was faster. But in honor of both groups’ efforts each year at Hanukah they lit the menorah and had a Hanukah Bush. That is until the Romans came around. As you may know many early European groups thought that various trees were sacred to their gods, so because one of the underlining laws of Judaism is “Don’t Act like the Pagans!” all the Rabbis agreed that they could no longer have the Hanukah Bush. After the removal of the Hanukah Bush and then the decision that the story of Hanukah wouldn’t be put in the Bible, the holiday quickly became a very minor holiday celebrated by very few people, until at the beginning of the last century when a Rabbi studying history happened upon stories of early Hanukah celebrations and found it oddly similar to how Christmas was then being celebrated with trees, candles, small gifts, and religious services. He then started working on spreading this way of celebrating Hanukah in the hopes of fostering love and understanding between Christians and Jews. And that is the way the modern Hanukah Bush came about. – F

Is it real?

We received some comments reasontly that made us wonder: 1. are people actually reading this blog, & 2. are people having problems telling which postings are true, which are completely made up and which one’s are B.S.? As far as the 1st question YAHHHHHHH!!! People are reading this. And we welcome your comments. As far as the 2nd question we are trying a new coding system to some articles. Completely true stories will be ended with a T at the end. Stories we made up using no to little factual information will be labeled F. Stories that are mostly true, but either arranged in a misleading way or have vastly untrue information in them, much like any paper you ever wrote in school (quick, I need 1 more page, lets say that cows naturally hate red because they are red meat and are not cannibals. . . I’ll make up some web site sources.) will be labeled BS, because we were B.S.ing it. -T

Holiday Question of the Day:

This “tree” is found in the Gospel of Matthew and is named after the father of the 2nd king of Israel.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: St. Francis, and yes the patron saint of animals used real animals but, most likely not real people.

Holiday Question of the Day:

Who is noted as being first to recreate the manger scene, starting the tradition of the crèche or nativity found in homes and churches?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Paul Newman, Goldie Hawn, Harrison Ford, Lenny Kravitz and Courtney Love.

Holiday Question of the Day:

In Adam Sandler’s “The Hanukkah Song” (Parts 1 and 2) he list 5 people who are part Jewish, name them.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Josephus

Why is Hanukah 8 Days long?

As Hanukah starts this Friday at sundown (as all Jewish holidays do, as well as some Christian and secular ones [think of any holiday with an Eve. I.e. Christmas, New Years etc.]) We thought we would go over all the reasons why people celebrate it for 8 days.

1st although we stated that as far as we know no one’s Bible has the Miracle of the Oil in it, the Talmud has the story, which is that after the Maccabees won control of the Temple back from the Greeks they found only one days worth of consecrated oil in the Temple, which miraculously lasted for 8 days- how long it took to make more oil suitable for use in the Temple.*

1 Maccabees (which is in many Bibles, but only considered sacred text in Catholic and Orthodox Churches) says that they celebrated the rededication of the altar for eight days, and then decreed that every year they should celebrate it for eight days.*

2 Maccabees (see note on 1 Macabees) states that because they couldn’t celebrate the feast of Booths that year they would celebrate the 8 days of the feast then.

Both the books of Maccabees and the Talmud tell the story of a woman (traditionally called Hannah) and her 7 sons. All 7 sons were killed because they would not eat pork and worship a pagan statue. And then after watching her sons be killed she committed suicide rather then be tortured and killed too. Some say Hanukah is 8 days long to honor them.

*The Temple needed to be rededicated because the Greeks, like most ruling peoples, had set up there religions worship in the same place that the people already there had worshiped. And so the temple contained statues of Greek gods and offerings to them.

Holiday Question of the Day:

This famed Jewish historian was the 1st to call Hanukah “the Feast of Lights.”

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Max

Holiday Question of the Day:

In Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” what was the Grinch’s dog named?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: “Walking around in Women’s Underwear.”

Holiday Question of the Day:

This song often played around Christmas uses the same music as a Christmas carol and makes references to a singer named after an important person in the Christmas story and a fictional news person disliked by Dan Quail.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: The story of the Miracle of Hanukah is no where in the Jewish Bible, for that matter as far as we know it isn’t in any Christian Bible either. Although Bibles with the Apocrypha contain the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees and have the story of the rededication of the temple, neither talk about the oil lasting for days. (Although there are like 2 or 3 more books of Maccabees, we have never seen them anywhere and don’t know if maybe they have the miracle in them.)

Holiday Question of the Day

In what book of the Jewish Bible is the story of the Miracle of Hanuka?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: (OK Wendsdays question, we had a really busy day, sorry.) “Jingle Bells” which was first called “The One Horse Open Sleigh”.

Holiday Question of the Day

This popular Christmas carol was originally a Thanksgiving song written by a Sunday school teacher in 1857.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: No where, he was really Duke of Bohemia.

The History of the Christmas Tree

St. Boniface, an English monk, was sent on a missionary journey to Germany in 719. There he found that most people there were Pagans, even those that had become Christian had either gone back to their old ways, or because of lack of teaching had combined bits and pieces of the two beliefs together. So he set out to convert the people. One way that he did that was by disproving superstitions rooted in the Pagan beliefs. One of those superstitions was that because the oak was sacred if you cut down an oak you would be cursed by the gods and bad things would happen to you. So he cut down an oak tree. And it destroyed everything it fell on except a fir sapling. (And of course he was fine, or else it really wouldn’t be a good story.) Which people thought was a miracle, (the tree part) so people started planting fir saplings at Christmas time.
Over time people started to bring the small fir trees inside. And for some reason, unknown to us they would hand them upside down from their ceiling beams.
Then one dark night, Martin Luther was walking in the woods before Christmas thinking up a sermon, when he looked up and saw all the stars in the sky. This reminded him of the Christmas star and God’s light. He thought up his sermon and brought home a fir tree for Christmas, but thinking back to the stars he set it upright and added candles to light on it.
Over time various decorations were added to make the tree look nicer or because of symbolic meanings, but the Christmas tree stayed largely a tradition only in Germany in the surrounding countries until the Victorian era. During that time Queen Victoria married Prince Albert (of can fame) who was German. They added the Christmas tree to their holiday festivities and within a few years all of England embraced the Christmas tree as if it had always been a part of their Christmas. And from their it spread to America and around the world.-T

Holiday Question of the Day

“Good King Wenceslas” was king where?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 1 million acres

Sorry todays was so late, we had some problems getting online today.

Holiday Gift Giving Guide

Here are some ideas for gifts for the cubical dweller in your life. Which we are Weird News B.N.I. do not own, except of course the 1st one. (Hey it’s the law.)

Office Space- This DVD must be owned by anyone who has ever worked in an office or a large company. (Compliance to this will be mandatory starting Jan. 1st 2008.) So if your friend doesn’t own it, they need to.

The Office Space Kit- It contains the things that anyone who has watched Office Space has always wanted including; Flair, TPS Report covers, a “Jump to Conclusions” mat, a sign asking “Is it Good for the Company?” and more.

A Rubik’s Cube – It’s a great way to waste the 8 hours your “working” every day.

A 20 questions game – see above.

Despair, Inc. 2007 Calendar – It contains 12 great Demotiavtor designs. (Think the cheesy picture of a man climbing a mountain at work, only a realistic message.) It also includes less then important dates, like July 9th, 1982 was the theatrical release of TRON. (This is available at www.thinkgeek.com)

Dilbert 2007 Calendar – If they hang it up at work, it’s a cube inside a cube! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Try Rebooting Yourself: A Dilbert Collection BY: Scott Adams- as this is the newest book; they may not have it yet.

Holiday Question of the Day

About how many acres of land is planted with trees for Christmas in North America?

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: Red, which is considered the color of luck, happiness, and prosperity.

Advent

Today marks the start of Advent the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas. As Christmas is on a Monday this year, it will be the shortest advent possible. The Advent wreath started in Germany and has become popular around the world. Traditionally the wreath has 3 purple candles and 1 pink candle often with a large white candle put in the middle, called the Christ candle. Each week a new candle is lit and addition to all candles already lit. Week one is 1 purple candle. Week 2 is 2 purple candles. Week 3 is 2 purple candles and one pink candle. And week 4 is all 4 candles. On Christmas the white candle is lit. In some families and churches there are 4 purple candles, or 4 white candles, or a blue candle instead of the pink candle is used. And the pink or blue candle may be lit last.

For advent prayers click here.
For Protestant advent info, click here.
For a short history of Advent in the Catholic Church, click here.

Holiday Question of the Day

In China, Christmas is called Sheng Dan Jieh or Holy Birth Festival and homes of Christians are decorated with paper chains and pagodas of this color.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: 12 to 15 miles an hour

Holiday Question of the Day

Even with time zones, bad children and non-Christians it is scientifically impossible for a reindeer pulled sleigh to deliver all of Santa’s toys, that is because they only can move this fast pulling a loaded sleigh. . .

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: John Grisham – Who would have thought he could write comedies with no court houses in sight.

Holiday Question of the Day

The film Christmas with the Kranks is based on the 2001 novel Skipping Christmas by this famed author.

Answer to Yesterday’s Question: There is no number listed, as there were three gifts traditionally there were thought to be three givers, also as there were three continents know of, they are traditionally pictured as one being from Africa, one Asia and one Europe.