Follow up to the "Happy Holidays" post below...

As followup to this post, I would like to add two things:

1. What's the deal with everyone writing "CHRISTmas"; they are completely ignoring half the word. The -mas in Christmas is short for MASS; Mass? Why, yes. Mass.

Mass also mass (măs)
n.
a. Public celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church and some Protestant churches.
b. The sacrament of the Eucharist.

2. This is someone else's commentary on the subject, and I agree with her. It's also in the print edition of this week's Newsweek.

Merry Redneck Christmas, Big Al

Merry Redneck Christmas to you.

Photo was apparently taken at some place called Weiss Lake.

Happy Holidays

[Taken from something else I wrote, with a wee bit added]

Merry Xmas to you to. Or, maybe I should say "Happy Holidays" to you; heh. I think more people need to put the X- back in Christmas (Xmas). Cause "X" is actually a much older symbol for "Jesus" than the english "Christ".

And I think "Happy Holidays" is getting a bad rap this year, even from [especially from] conservative/religious christians. Why?

Well, there is the obvious: not everyone believes in Jesus. [Give them some respect.]

But there is also:

-Jesus was Jewish; Christians should at least respect/well-wish Jews at Chaunaka/Christmas time.

-The Annunciation of the birth of Jesus is celebrated at this time of year, despite the fact that its only weeks/days from Christmas, not 9-months. The coming of Jesus is what advent is all about, right?

-Protestants *used* to dislike the idea of celebrating Christmas, and now, suddently, they can't get enough of it? Read up on the history: England had legally banned Christmas in the 1600s; churches in America refused to
celebrate cause it's not in the bible; etc.... Kind of two-faced for them to start now, after 1,850+ years* of disliking the idea of Christmas.

*[Well, duh, Protestantism isn't that old, but hopefully you see what I'm saying.]

-Christmas time is supposed to be about joy & happiness. Is it so bad to wish joy & happiness to EVERYONE, even if they don't believe in Jesus? Fuck, so what if Kwanza is made up, if it makes someone happy in the cold, dark, depressing winter, happy fucking Kwanza to them.

-Some churches celebrate Christmas Eve. But no one says "Merry Christmas Eve".

-Some churches have services on New Years day or New Years eve; even if it's not religious, its still a holiday; is it so bad to hope people have a happy new year in addition to a Merry Christmas?--even without the religious context?---or even with the religious context, maybe I should say?

-Winter Solstice. Wiccans. Happy dark-day, John Robinson.

-12 days of Christmas. Merry Christmases.

-Boxing day. Need I say more?

Happy Holidays to you.

Raining Jane

The more I hear this band, the more I like them.

I think, I hope, I have all their CD's. The website lists 2 different titles, but I actually have a third official release, which was a limited edition live recording released between the two studio albums.

Plut

Plut.

Olde Towne Brewery Update

Huntsville's microbrewery, Olde Towne Brewing, is making some changes to their product line up, and I sampled some of it today...

They are dropping the Extra Pale Ale from the product line. This sort of makes sense to me, as they also have a Pale Ale. They are going to make the Hefe Weissen all the time, but it will only be available in kegs (ie, on tap at bars). The Amber & Pale will still be available in bottles & kegs.

The Hefe was his "summer seasonal", and then it stuck around through September & October; Don Alan (brewmaster) nixed the Octoberfest he was going to make, because of the huge demand for the Hefe Weissen... Since Hefe is going to be a full time beer now, he had a Pumpkin beer for his late-fall seasonal. He's just about out of the pumpkin, only a few days (literally) to drink what's in the bars around town.

A Porter is going to be his winter seasonal. It should be in bars in the next week or two. I had a glass today, and I thought it was very good; I hope he can keep it consistent. As with all his seasonals, it's only available in kegs/on tap----no bottles, no grocery store sales. (Perhaps, if the Porter proves popular, he might be able to bottle it?)

I hope he makes an Octoberfest next year.

Olde Towne is the only micro-brewery in the state (ie, is not a brewpub, but is a beer factory).