Lazy Kids

The Washington Post has a story about walking to the subway. The money quote has got to be this: Thirty years ago, more than 60 percent of U.S. schoolchildren walked or rode bikes to school. Today, that number has fallen to about 13 percent, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The story is about traffic, not fat kids, though I guess a statistic like that could go either way.]]>

NORAD tracking Santa

Norad Santa for the latest updates. Ever wonder why NORAD tracks Santa? From their own website: The tradition began after a Colorado Springs store’s advertisement for children to call Santa on a special “”hotline”” included a misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “”hotline.”” The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first “”Santa”” call on Christmas Eve 1955. Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup had his staff check radar data to see if there was any indication of Santa making his way South from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa’s position. Thus, the tradition was born. ]]>

Ghetto Christmas gives way to Redneck Christmas

Russ and I would often get in the car and drive through the truly scary parts of DC in what we called “”Ghetto Christmas.”” Lights dangled here and there, mismatched lawn ornaments, abandoned cars with decorations on them. By and large, our favorite has to be just North of RFK stadium–the Nativity scene with Winnie the Pooh as the baby Jesus. It was really an amalgamation of two Christmas scenes. There was Mary and Joseph and a few sheep, but the baby Jesus was gone so Pooh took his place. Alongside two of the Wise Kings was the Wisemen Tigger. Piglet played the part of a pig. However, Ghetto Christmas has nothing on Redneck Christmas. We drove around last night out here in Calvert and Anne Arrundel county and looked at some of the absolutely INSANE Christmas lights. My town, Chesapeake Beach, is actually well known for doing up Christmas, and the lights here are incredibly festive. They even have a competition for most lit house and many of the locals really get into the spirit. By far our favorite last night was the Santa with the dancing legs (made of light). He was on about three houses last night. If I get a chance tonight I’ll take some digital photos of the houses.]]>