No one is quite sure how the custom of giving and receiving gifts on the anniversary of Christ’s birth actually began. Some say it was a holdover from a celebration the Romans held at the end of the year to honor Saturn, their harvest god.Some say it came from Saint Nicholas, a kind-hearted Christian bishop who lived around 300 A.D., who is said to have given gold to each of three girls who did not have dowries, so they could get married. Continue reading “Exchanging Gifts with Jesus”
Month: December 2000
Mr. Bush, Consider Roscoe Bartlett
George W. Bush will be our 43rd president, having squeaked by on the thinnest of margins: a handful of undimpled votes in the state of Florida, two votes in the Electoral College and one vote in the United States Supreme Court. Now, he is getting a lot of advice on how to reach out to the left and compromise his way through the next four years.
In the comic strip “Peanuts,” time and time again, Lucy would offer to hold the football for Charlie Brown to kick, only to pull that ball right out from under him just before his toe made contact, leaving poor Charlie flat on his back. He never learned. Continue reading “Mr. Bush, Consider Roscoe Bartlett”
Jane Chastain 