London: It's that time of the year again, and newspapers around the world been devoting more than a few column inches to Christmas news.
Here are a few articles from around the world, presented in true Christmas Carol order.
We'll start with "Bah, humbug"
If you've been traveling—or trying to travel—out of London or Denver, Colorado these last couple of days, "Bah, humbug" would be an apt, if understated, reaction. Numerous flights from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been cancelled because of intense fog.
The UK's Times sums it up best, saying, "for those in peril in the fog, the heart goes out. For those herded into concentration tents at airports until the planes take off again, we shudder." There is, however, a lesson to be learned from this: stay at home!
The Ghost of Christmas Past: Simpsons and inflatable Santas
On a recent quiet afternoon, with few witnesses around, Homer Simpson, Santa Claus and a penguin perched on an igloo suddenly appeared on the Long Island landscape as if from nowhere, unfolding slowly like Frankenstein monsters lurching to life on the table. As Homer's extremities reached full size, his pink nylon fist puffed into Snow Man's face—an involuntary attack, to be sure. Bop.
Such is, according to the International Herald Tribune, the phantasmagoric, Disney-esque experience of the new Christmas custom sweeping the suburbs of New York.
"Whatever else Christmas in America means—the birth of Jesus, holly wreaths, the Chipmunks, cultural tension—it now also includes these gargantuan, inflatable outdoor decorations, called 'Airblowns' by their chief manufacturer."
But for those who do not like—inflated, deflated—the whole thing, the paper says there is hope at hand.
"For the purists, the old-fashioned stuff is still out there: the strings of lights along the gutters, the lighted tin soldiers, crèches. The homemade wooden Rudolph with blinking red nose, hauled out of storage every Christmas for 45 years and put up on Frank and Diana Culmones's roof in Franklin Square."
The Ghost of Christmas Present: Rats, Bats, and Kentucky Fried Chicken
Reuters in Singapore reports on how dogs, bats, Kentucky Fried Chicken and barramundi (large edible Australian lungfish) will grace dinner tables across the Asia Pacific this Christmas, in non-Christian regions where the festival is celebrated with very little turkey, but lots of cheer.
"In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, which also has a substantial Christian community, Christmas feasts include delicacies such as pork soaked in blood and dog meat."
It gets better: "In the eastern island of Sulawesi, some Manado Christians swear by kawok, or garden rats, cooked with chilies and garlic, or bats, cooked in coconut milk."
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But if you like celebrating early, you might want to head to the Philippines:
"Chinese sweet ham is a popular centerpiece for Christmas Eve dinner in the Philippines, where the affluent serve up roast pig or turkey. Filipinos pride themselves on celebrating the longest Christmas in the world, with decorations going up in September."
In Japan, people head to Kentucky -- Kentucky Fried Chicken, of course, which offers a bottle of wine with its chicken on Christmas Day, with sales running ten times as high as normal. But Christmas cake in Japan will never taste the same after you hear this:
"In Japan, many families opt for a plain sponge cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries. As delicious as it sounds, the term 'Christmas cake' was long used to refer to unmarried women over the age of 25, who were said to be past their best, like cakes after December 25."
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: Podcasts!
In England, King George V delivered the first royal Christmas broadcast live on the radio more than 70 years ago, from Sandringham in 1932, as The Telegraph reports in England. Well, times have changed, and this year you can get a Christmas Day message on a podcast! Not from the ghost of
Christmas-Yet-to-Come, but from the reigning Queen Elizabeth II herself. And you can order it free from the British Monarchy Web site on http://www.royal.gov.uk .
"Prince William and Prince Harry and other young members of the royal family such as Zara and Peter Phillips, the children of the Princess Royal, have MP3 players but it was not clear last night if the Queen has one of her own to download her favorite music ... Last night a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Queen's grandchildren have kept her up to date. She is aware of iPods and downloading, but, I honestly cannot say if she has one herself.'"
And as Tiny Tim would end it ... "God bless us, every one."
Anxious about Christmas shopping you still haven't done? Or about shopping gone wrong? The New Yorker has a fascinating article on the economics behind giving gift cards in the holiday season.
The National Retail Federation in the US says Americans will buy close to $25 billion worth of gift cards this season, up thirty-four percent from last year. But does our (in)competence at gift giving even matter? Not really, says this article. This one isn't about the money. It's the thought that counts.
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