It’s a “CHRISHANUKAWANZA” tree.

Are you in Az? You know more about what is going on than I do-
If you are here, I would have gone to the State Capitol lobby and put a present under the holiday tree for you- and then called you collect from Madison Jail after I got arrested-

I don’t know what the fuss is about setting up a tree and making it pretty- people sure like to complain about the most asinine things-

What makes me sad are the poor kids who see a tree with presents and they can’t afford to have one- this to me is more distressing than what is politically correct-(But I adopt a family through one of the Churches here- so it makes me feel better. And I saw at the gym today there is a note posted to bring in certain items for the homeless- any bit helps)

But why do we have a Christmas Tree, and how did it originate? Back in the 7th century a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, traveled to Germany to spread the Word of God.

http://www.inglewoodcarecentre.com/history/christmastree.htm · Cached page

enjoy- as I head back out into the world- (I didn’t think we were ever going to get to the point of wearing long sleeves- chilly today?

This is a fiery topic! I say call it like it is, a Christmas tree.

I wonder how long it will be before the ACLU jumps on this.

grrrrrrr
I dont even want to get started about “politically correct” being shoved down our throats.
Can’t everyone just get along for ***’* sake? (left it blank cause i dont want to offend anyone)
We dont need more “big bro”, we need a lot more common sense!!!

This story was on our local news page today….
U.S. prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena seeking the identities of thousands of people who bought used books through online retailer Amazon.com Inc., newly unsealed court records show.
The withdrawal came after a judge ruled the customers have a right to keep their reading habits from the government. to read more go here… http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/11865471.html

OH Picture of the day???? Yippee

Hints:
Tree.
12 feet tall.
Decorated.
It has all the colors of Christmas.
It’s being displayed during the Christmas season.
There’s packages under it.
Probably smells like a pine tree.
You feel festive when you see it.

I’m going to have to say it’s a CHRISTMAS TREE.
Am I Hot or Cold??

Jen S……*LMAO*!!!!
now that my dear, was priceless!!!!!

I agree with her stance in 2001 because those things are infact part of the x-mass holiday and they are associated with it. That being said the U.S. Has a policy that supports her “Separation of church and state.” Once you start putting snow flakes (even though they are natural) when you put them together with an x-mass tree and other stuff associated with the holiday its like X-MAS is the ultimate holiday. If you’re going to do that then your going to have to put the Menorah (Hanukah thing in which you light the candles on) which is usually put with holiday decorations and the graydel as well. Also other holidays as well.Once you start adding stuff to the tree like empty boxes decorations and stuff it goes too far. You gotta be “fair and balanced” ahem fox news

by the decorations hanging off the upper railing….looks like the 4th…..my favorite time of year…..Christmas in July… NOT!!!

oo and dont get me wrong i dont got a problem with calling it a ” x-mass tree” thats a bit extreme by calling it smth else … but i support her 2001 policy as i stated above^^

Everytime I see a Christmas tree I can’t help but wonder how the Native Americans, who had been chastised by the Christians for believing in false deities, reacted when they observed the very same people standing around a tree, adorned with tinsel,fake snow and glittering balls, singing silly songs of praise about little drummer boys on silent nights.

sorry Avi…we disagree on this one. But thats what’s nice, we can agree to disagree. I’ll respect your way, either way.

According to Housley, this was an “interesting way to welcome in the holiday season.”

“holiday” season? A little Freudian slip there? Didn’t you mean Christmas season? Why do you hate Amrica, Mr. Housley? (Just thought I’d use some standard Fox rhetoric to speak a language you all understand.)

John, many so called christians are as bad as politicians when it comes to being hypocritical. Always pointing fingers the other way, when they need to turn thier hands around and point at themselves.

What i wonder is how long it will be before the ACLU or CAIR will notice how in the west the days that our weekends fall endorse Judaism and Christianity over other religions and will want to get weekends banned.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone! I said…MERRY CHRISTMAS — so sue me!

Happy Holidays to you to ……… bernie

Altogether, now! IT IS A CHRISTMAS TREE — as in we are celebrating the birth of the Christ Child… I do not see the same desire on the part of “our representatives” to reign in other religious groups; like referring to the Koran as “the Muslim Holy Book” because it might offend Christians. Please, please for all of the world’s peoples’ God’s sake — we are at war and there ARE real problems to deal with — REPRESENT YOUR CONSTITUENTS AND THEIR WISHES, NOT YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready for Easter.

()()
(-_-)
c((“)(“)

John,
Don’t you mean “Spring Festival” !!!

The Judau-Christian religions are prominent in the U.S. There should be nothing wrong with displays of these regions during the holidays.

If you walk around the Capital the word God is inscripted everywhere. I don’t think that banning religious symbols is what our Forefathers had in mind when they wrote a separation between church and state. Religion played a very big part in their decision making during that time.

If it’s the Atheists who are the minority, then why can’t we go with the majority and make religion socially acceptable again?

Is it really such a bad thing to have a Christmas tree or a Menorah displayed on government property? Would we be harmed in anyway?

There are displays of sexual promiscuity, drugs and violence flooding our tv shows everyday. Children are being brought up watching this and absorbing it as being socially acceptable.

So… with that in mind… would there be any damage to seeing a religious display on goverment property?

I’m with Jen S. on the picture of the day:

A Christmas tree, Holiday tree, Yule tree or Tannenbaum (German: fir tree) is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. It is normally an evergreen coniferous tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, and is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas. An angel or star is often placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity story.

Betty……….our Christmas tree used to be decorated with empty Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon cans, depending which was on sale at the local beer and wine store. The cans were tied together with copper wire which was connected to the John Deere tractor’s battery……….made all the beer cans glow real pretty when they got hot. The whole contraption was then placed in it’s makeshift stand…..a gallon jug of Boones Farm Apple wine and on January 1st, dad would blow the whole thing up in the backyard with C4. One year he did it the house……that was fun!

John
Sounds like a blast….cool!

Adam- you go!!!!! I totally agree with you- who cares about a Xmas tree- pine tree- yucca-

Religion is in the eye of the beholder- and I respect everyone’s religion- doesn’t mean I agree but I respect eveyone’s religion- My dad, one Xmas eve, in Mexico City, took us to all different churches so we could see how it was celebrated- it was a good time-

And I am naming all my teddy bears ‘Muhammad’—-

Now John’s tree is my favorite- I could have decorated the tree from my younger days of drinking beer, with one night of beer drinking-

Now for self-disclosure time- I use to work at the Phoenix Country Club- and they would put up the prettiest trees with the prettiest ornaments- somehow a few of these ornaments ended up leaving with a few of us- ( I am ashamed and now I have to do penance)

Jen- thanks for the hints on the picture of the day- I think I have the answer- picture taken at the state capitol lobby in Phoenix, Arizona around 17th Ave. and Washington-

What is the name of the book and DVD Newt has out now? He is going to be on bookTV December 8th-

Bernie-

Merry Christmas to you too-

Karen T- I love your comments-

Susan-Phx

Isn’t Newt’s new book called Winning The Future?

On his website he says if you buy 100 or more you get a 40% discount. (I’m just sayn’ hahahaha).

I wish he was running for president. One day maybe I’ll meet him, then I’ll hollar at him for Conveniently taking on his new project right at the time of elections. That was his excuse anyway, the new project and no time to raise money.

We might need to go to this website and type in “Christmas Tree” in the search engine.
Then we will see why we celebrate with trees.

Does Arizona have trees?

We might need to go to this website and type in “Christmas Tree” in the search engine.
Then we will see why we celebrate with trees.

Does Arizona have trees?

http://www.germany.info

If I ever wondered why I left AZ for MT, I now know why. AZ needs a governor who listens to the people and not just a few. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.

Karen T- (sharp Karen should be your name)
yes that is the name of the book- thanks- I think I want the DVD-

Adonna- yes- we have trees especially north of here- it is like being in another state-

I have a pomegranate tree I started last summer in my backyard- so much for eating them- the birds are enjoying the pomegranate- because there is only one on the tree-

Thanks for the site- I left one too way up above- (my neighbor is in Germany right now- Adonna is a pretty name- from? )

Good point Adam about the hypocrisy! I absolutely agree.

Great blog, Adam. I’ve been lurking for quite a while and am making my first comment because of John’s comment about Native Americans and what we think of you all with your trees. I’m Navajo and when my ancestors were being studied by the “white men” (hope that doesn’t offend) they concluded that the Navajo didn’t have any religion. Ridiculous, of course because our religion permeated every aspect of life in such a way that it couldn’t be seperated and defined as a religion.

Religion isn’t an institution necessarily, it’s a way of life. Those involved in organized religion are the only one’s included in this supposed seperation of church and state. I’ve listened to some pretty zealous followers of athiesm and unfortunately their “religion” is not being very seperated from our State. Maybe someday that will change in the meantime Merry Keshmish!

I concur too-

I am putting up my tree- I think it looks so pretty- it adds so much color and I believe the beauty releases serotonin- good med to have naturally! For it gets one in the spirit of being kind- what can be so wrong about this?

And Adam- you said it so well- TRADITION- I am surprised Thanksgiving is not a hot issue!

Emily-

thanks for sharing your comments- I love reading other people’s opinions- makes my world grow bigger-

I love my block- half the block are hispanic and they celebrate Xmas on January 6th- so we get a bit of this and a bit of that-

fun time- everyone has their own traditions-
Feliz Navidad!

Emily, welcome.

Thanks! You guys are smart AND funny. Such a rare combination.

Merry Christmas everyone…Dec 25th is the day we celebreate Christmas. A day we have set aside for that purpose. If the majority of the USA wants to celebrate, thats wonderful. Many countries celebrate a “Christmas”. IF some people have a problem with it, then don’t celebrate, but please let the ones that want to do so in peace. It is slowly becoming Santa Claus Day.

My only ONE question is, Why are so many people afraid of Jesus Christ???

I don’t mean that to be an offense to anyone, just a question?

Metoo….I not afraid of him!
I celebrate the Chirstmas season, Christmas eve/day and his birth proudly!

Emily…gee thanks for the compliment!!
…I only got this smart cause Adam sends us all over timbucktoo searching for places in the middle of no where!! *LOL* He even has me reading about OJ for God’s sake!

Susan Phx….I would love the birds that show up to eat that fruit!!! We started a bird feeder in our yard last spring, have no clue why we waited so long. Now my husband thinks he’s created a monster cause I can’t get enough!! They are so interesting to watch. Its almost like …i dont know… meditation in a way, just calming. Hard to describe. Ever since our daughter passed away, nature just seems so much more “real” if that makes any sense at all.

From my little world: (my serious side)
I am a Christian and celebrate Christmas with the meaning of Christ being born.
A Christmas tree doesn’t signify Christ to me. The tree has no religious significance. It’s certainly not in the Bible. If a state building or anybody else puts up a tree I don’t look at it and think, ‘Oh, they are honoring the birth of our Savior.’ It ALMOST has the same effect as one of those blow-up Winnie the Poohs with a Santa hat. Only difference is I wouldn’t put one of those in my yard.
The tree is the Santa Clause and ho ho ho part of the ‘holidays’ to me. And yes I put a tree up every Christmas because I like ho ,ho, ho, just like everybody else.
I think Christians and non Christians should be insulted that someone wants it to be called a Holiday Tree when it is, has been and always will be called a Christmas tree. What an insult to our intelligence. American traditions should be ours to keep. America was founded on Christian principals and that’s a good thing. I really believe without that foundation we would all have far worse things to talk about than this. How lucky, how blessed we are. Cheers!

I totally agree Adam! With other countries wanting to lash people over a teddy bear, kill people because of what they do in the bedroom, and terrorists wanting to kill us, why not have something that the majority of Americans celebrate and is not full of HATE like so many other things in this society. As long as other religions are able to participate if they want, what is the big deal?!?!?!?!
Too many other things to worry about than something that brings people joy. Some people have to ruin everything.

test

Adam-

is there now a moderator?

I can’t seem to get my posts to go through-

waaaaaaaa!

Hi everyone- I am out here in the Twilight Zone- please rescue me-

I thought Rod Serling has moved on- he has taken over my computer-

Well- my posts did not go through- but I won’t be offended because I have mastered the smiley thing- thanks Jen-

thanks for the fun- Bernie and John- I laughed at the easter remark and the rebuttal- spring festival-

Emily- a pleasure meeting you-

Emily-

Welcome aboard…..look out for John and apparently a new guy in Vegas!

Adam

Adam-

You didn’t want to read it anyway- I insulted baby Chavez- I said he won’t put a tree up because he is so paranoid, he would think one of the ornaments is trying to kill him-

and I told Patty and the rest, I enjoy them- and made some comments about birds- blah and blah-

Wait a minute………What do you mean,” look out for John “. You’ll scare her right out of the blog………..

Welcome Emily……….and don’t mind me, I just like to throw a curveball every now and then………..keeps people on their toes. Like this one for example: ” Hey guys, what about Kwanza???????”
As you can tell, I was notorious in my college days for starting bar fights, then leaving…….

John- And I bet when you left the bar, you never looked behind-

Adam: I went looking to see if I could find anything about our Holiday tree and came up with some articles- is this true? (this just happened recently?)
Six congressmen from the International Relations Committee were on a Latin American trip led by Congressman Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos.

They were held on board their airplane, and they say harassed by Venezuelan customs officials for two hours. The Americans say they were not allowed to disembark or attend their scheduled meetings.

Now, the foreign ministry of Venezuela denies that it held a delegation on the ground and says the congressmen simply decided to continue on their way.

Kwanza is cool too- I believe they start theirs December 26th and continue it to the first of January-

if we were to take all the holidays from everywhere, we could have 365 days of celebration-

Jen- look what you have created? me, the smiley monster-

Well good night all- parting is such sweet sorrow….

Susan Phx & Karen T

Winning the Future isn’t the book about religion in America.
His book about God is “Rediscovering God In America”. He writes so many books.

All this PC stuff has my dander up, there is no way I ever say “Happy Holidays”, I say “Merry Christmas”. I am a Christian, there is no reason for me to acknowledge any other religion, I expect a Jew to tell me “Happy Hanakuh”. But the day a woman with a British birth right is beaten after she goes and graciously teaches the Sudanese kids, because she named a bear Mohammed after a child my world seems so much simpler.

We raise our kids to be proud Americans, Texans and proud to born as they are. There is nothing wrong with being who you are raised to be. The day America gives up that right, our heritage is meaningless. All the previous wars were fought to perserve who we as individuals are, not who a few kooks think we should call each other. God Help this Country!

Max-:)

You are so right!!!! Rediscovering God In America”. Thanks so much for giving me the right answer- yes this is the one where he goes back into time and explains where and how God has been used throughout-

Max-

oops- my comment went ahead of me- Where Newt writes about the role of faith in past and present in our nation?

Has anyone been watching Hannity and Colmes the last two nights?

Santa is in trouble because of global warming according to the mayor in Seattle? and tonight Santa is in trouble because he is obese-

what has happened with just jolly old Nick- and his elves making toys all year so Santa and Dancer, Prancer, Rudolf, etc, can fly over all our homes and go HO-HO-HO?

Poor Santa is taking a lickin’ too.
Here’s some ho ho, but there’s a couple ‘not so nice’ words.

Jen-

I was just about ready to turn off the computer but as curiousity warrants, I came back here and saw your youtube-

Isn’t this the truth? It is getting to that point- thanks so much for the laugh- I hope a few of the others come back here and see it-

How does one change the smileys to red and green as in Xmas colors?

just a quickie…i gotta run…but saw your question susan…and i couldnt remember if Jen was around on weekends. didnt want ya to go nuts waiting for the answer! *L*
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies

Patty-

thank you so much- I am sad to you have to run off-

Who says chickens don’t give around the Holidays-

Bracelet pulled from chicken is one clucky find
Boy’s ID bracelet lost decades ago turns up in a gizzard from Minn. bird

Susan, that thread was a great subject. Did you know that pomegranates have so much nutrition. Bet the birds will be flying high.. Did you know their stem is in the shape of the Star of David? Enjoyed the comments…thanks

Hey Dottie-

I am so glad you are enjoying our fun- I love everyone here- I truly do-

wait until you read John’s comments- you will either love him or go- wow- but he is from my perspective a fun loving guy!

I am like you Dottie- smile- you can’t lose for smiling!

And dear Adam checks in on us- he doesn’t take any crap from anyone- did you see his post from the guy way up above? Under Eric? I laughed so hard- sweet but short!

If there is only one thing about Adam, I know is he is true to this country and he loves this country- his coverages on anything he reports on comes from his heart- He is a good man-

He just lies when he drinks with baby Chavez! I bet he is over there right now playing ball with baby Chavez- They are doing home runs to see who wins the election- batter, batter up!

(Dottie- Adam played ball at one point in his life)

Did anyone see the MSN top fifteen Xmas trees? It was a slideshow of the different trees in the world- they were really cool- Tokyo’s was impressive but then so was Moscow’s and Spain’s-

I hope it is still there for you all to see- it was quite interesting what the captions had to say- :

Greta’s state, Wisconsin, is having a hard time deciding what to call their tree!

I just received this in my emails from a former police officer- who lives in Florida-

*Twas the month before Christmas* *When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying* *Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas – no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say*C
* December 25th is just a “Holiday “.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears*
*You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*;
*Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate “Winter Break” under your “Dream Tree”*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy H

——————————————————————————–

http://ecard.ashland.edu/2004admission/index.html

I don’t know if anyone ever comes to the older entries but here is something one can do for fun to create some pictures to send off to loved ones-

http://www.elfyourself.com

I always get a chuckle, or more of a grimace when I hear people refer to “separation of church and state” in reference to matters like this. There is no constitutional or Declaration of Indepence reference to separation of church and state. The following is Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists and is the source from which the phrase comes from. It only states that the government will not establish a “state religion” and assures the Danbury Baptists they are free to worship as they wish and he will do all he can to protect their rights. And yes, it is a Christmas Tree

Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists
The Final Letter, as Sent
To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.

Gentlemen

The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.

Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802.