I know. Christmas eve. Stay with God and country. Today a slew of Christmas stories. Tomorrow from Jesus’ perspective.

Today also some nutty items. Reflective of the insanity that prevails in some areas of our lives.

Robert Browning wrote “God’s in His heaven / All’s right with the world!”

Blasphemous I am not. God is in His heaven. However all is not right with the world. Lunacy prevails in many areas.

A perfect example concerns the ACLU. The ACLU has started a campaign to make tampons available in all men’s restrooms across America. The reason: To prevent discrimination.

From tampons to how some “modern day” Christmas traditions originated. A giant leap.

Decorated Christmas Trees.

The huge trees in German forests around which pagans  celebrated what was their Christmas holiday were decorated. Not as today, however.

Decorating Christmas trees became popular in the early 19th century in the U.S. New York woodsman Mark Carr opened the first Christmas tree lot in 1851. Today, 77 percent of households will have trees. Eighty one percent artificial, 19 percent real.

The artificial/real percentages surprised me.

The Rockettes.

First Rockette show 1925 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. A dance group from Missouri. A hit! Became The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

A biggie with my parents. Several times we traveled to New York City to see the annual Rockette’s Christmas show.

A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Inspired by the Charles Schulz Peanuts comic strip. When first proposed, it was rejected by CBS executives.  Finally aired 12/9/1965. One half of America’s TV sets were tuned in. The show became an American tradition.

Linus’ famous line a forever one: “I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all. Maybe it just needs a little love.”

Something we could all use.

Gingerbread House.

Queen Elizabeth I gets credit for the early decorating oi gingerbread cookies. However Germans insist the credit is theirs. They lay claim to starting the gingerbread house tradition. They refer to the German Grimm Brothers who wrote Hansel and Gretel. The gingerbread house part of the story.

The Nutcracker.

For many a “must” to see. Ballet. Premiered 12/18/1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Performed for the first time outside Russia in 1934 in England. First time in U.S. in 1944 in San Francisco.

Captured America. Became a must see event in the U.S. in the late 1960’s.

Cookies and Milk for Santa.

Leaving treats for Santa and his reindeer dates back to ancient Norse mythology. America got into the tradition in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. The cookies and milk were left for Santa as a sign of showing gratitude during a time of struggle.

Boozy Eggnog.

Spiked eggnog makes a person happy. Originally started in medieval England as a posset, a drink made with hot curdled milk and ale or wine.

American colonists get credit for making it popular in the new world and adding rum to the drink. Even George Washington had a special recipe for eggnog.

Christmas Cards.

The first official Christmas card made its debut in 1843 in England. The idea of a mailed winter holiday greeting caught on in both Britain and the U.S. In the U.S., the Kansas City based Hall Brothers (now Hallmark) created a folded card and sold it in an envelope in 1915.

Today, more than 1.6 billion holiday cards are sold annually.

Department Store Santa.

Today mall kids throughout the U.S. sit on Santa’s lap. The tradition had its beginnings in 1890 in Brockton, Massachusetts. James Edgar owned a dry goods store. He had a Santa suit made, wore it to work, and permitted children to sit on his lap.

Within one year, the activity caught on. Santa’s were in stores all over the U.S.

New York City claims it had the first department store Santa. The City claims Macy had one since 1862.

Cookie Swaps.

Women always exchange dishes of Christmas cookies. I thought until I researched the issue last night that it was an Italian tradition. My mother and then my wife cooked tons of Christmas cookies. Buried plates with them. Visited other women exchanging cookies.

Never made sense to me. Italian women all made the same cookies. The exchange brought nothing new to the cookies.

The American tradition (not the Italian one) began in the late 1800’s. American women had parties where they exhibited their cookies. Did not necessarily exchange.

By the 1930’s, actual swapping began. The parties became known as “cookie exchanges.” By the 1950’s, “cookie swaps.”

Whatever, the exchanges, swaps, etc. are considered a “ladies only” event.

M. Venema is a reader/commentator to my blog. She published an interesting comment yesterday: “Nicole Marie Poole Franklin is what MAGA has created for us.”

Truer words never written.

On December 9, a 14 year old Mexican girl was walking on a sidewalk in Des Moines. Franklin an adult woman. She drove her SUV up on the sidewalk and struck the 14 year old.

She later admitted to the police that she did so because the girl was “Mexican.”

She further admitted she had smoked methamphetamine hours before.

The world has know many genocides, mass killings. Ethnic or religious driven. The Holocaust one of the worst ever. Six million Jews killed.

India is next in line. Indians dislike Muslims for religious reasons. Especially in the State of Assam where 1.9 million reside.

The Indian government has taken their citizenships away. Some from persons whose Indian family residence goes back 4 generations. The Indian government is constructing “camps” to hold Muslims.

The hate trend is moving forward. Shortly there will be an ethnic cleansing and genocide.

It is man’s innate nature to kill.

The Saudi resolution of Jamal Khashoggi’s killing is complete. Five found guilty and will be executed.

A sham.

The “hit men” have been found guilty and sentenced to death. The “masterminds” walk free. A mockery of justice.

There will be no Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou this evening. I will be at Lisa’s celebrating the holiday. Probably in the middle of a gigantic dinner at show time.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas eve, enjoy! A Merry Christmas to you! To my Jewish friends, enjoy your Hanukkah celebration.

For those of my friends who are agnostics or atheists, and I have many, enjoy your evening!