Sunday, December 25, 2011

#Occupy observed the holiday with a religious tone. (click title for video - thank you.


NEW YORK (AP) -- Occupy Wall Street protesters have celebrated Christmas with prayers and a reading of a Martin Luther King speech in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park.Police evicted protesters from the privately owned public space in November.  Christmas Day at Zuccotti -- the 100th day of the first demonstrations -- started at midnight with a prayer service in the park. Breakfast was served in the morning.At noon, a 1967 speech by King was read -- one in which the civil rights leader expressed his opposition to the Vietnam War.Other Christmas activities at Zuccotti Park included music and a poetry reading....

It could be said, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges the struggle of the 99%.

Pope Benedict spoke of many things in his Christmas address, including the violence that so mars the struggle for freedom.  His health is stated to be delicate at the age of 85, but, he didn't hesitate to state how commercial identity of the flock taints the beauty of life and love and spiritual piety.

...In his homily, (click here) Benedict lamented that Christmas has become an increasingly commercial celebration that obscures the simplicity of the message of Christ's birth.
"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light," he said.
It was the second time in as many days that Benedict has pointed to the need to rediscover faith to confront the problems facing the world today. In his end-of-year meeting with Vatican officials on Thursday, Benedict said Europe's financial crisis was largely "based on the ethical crisis looming over the Old Continent."...

Pope Benedict will be traveling to Cuba.  It is stated Cuba is expecting to release prisoners before or as he arrives for his visit and mass.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.


25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States every year.

This is a Scotch Pine Tree.  We picked this variety of Christmas Tree out every year when I was child.  (click here)


 Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.

The best-selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, balsam fir and white pine.

More than 2,000 trees are usually planted per acre on tree farms. It takes six to 10 years to grow a mature tree.

There are more than 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States.

The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia, in 1510.

The first Christmas tree retail lot in the country was started in 1851 in New York.

Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states.

73 million Christmas trees will be planted this year on farms.

Oregon produces the most real trees.

Sources: National Christmas Tree Association; U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture