Merry Christmas? Or is it Happy Holidays?

(This column appears in today's edition of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express)

Hi there it’s another weekend. Yes, have you ever wondered which is which? I mean, is it Merry Christmas? Or is it Happy Holidays? I got my answer very recently via some yahoo article and, yup a priest’s sermon. As you read this, we are at least 14 days away to Christmas. And this early many have been greeting each other Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I understand the latter is a result of some sort of a government ban (in the U.S.) on putting religious overtones on civil (non-religious) matters; and the capitalists in their effort to attract those who are not into the religion that makes a big deal about the birth of Christ, or something to that effect. Anyway, my point is, it’s them (and the non-Christians and or non-religious capitalists especially) riding on to cash it in on what is basically a very religious celebration and they end up renaming the celebration? Well, it’s all in the name of earning a living I suppose. Anyway, I like what I heard from a priest last Sunday, if you see a greeting card which says Happy Holidays, don’t buy it. (Smile! It’s a weekend)

Talking about the holidays, err Christmas. This is one of those seasons when I don’t mind looking back, back at old articles (or columns) and featuring these again and this is one of those articles which I featured in this column around this time, a year ago:

“By this time, you must have had more than enough of your share of Christmas songs (or carols). One of these should be the one entitled “The 12 Days of Christmas”. I would not have taken notice of that song until I came across an article Dan Nephin wrote for the Associated Press. In a way the article “dissected” the gifts mentioned in the song and came up with the amount it will cost one to have all those gifts - you know the partridge, the turtle doves, etc. So how much will it cost you in today’s dollar (And with the price of U.S. suppliers)? The whole list will set you back by 86,000 dollars. $ 86,609.00 to be exact” (That’s in 2008 dollars, and yes, with the economic mess still lurking somewhere).

If I may quote the article: “...Given the economic downturn, even the most romantic might balk at the $86,609 price tag for the items in the carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." That's this year's cost, according to the annual "Christmas Price Index" compiled by PNC Wealth Management, which tallies the single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, purchased repeatedly as the song suggests. The price is up $8,508 or 10.9 percent, from $78,100 last year.” Well, that’s if one is to literally taking into consideration the gifts given out on the twelve days of Christmas. We all know that the song is not exactly a list of gifts per se, but a guide for the Christian believers at the time when practicing their belief meant death or persecution.

I’ll give you more (interesting) details on the song in my next column.

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Parokya ni Edgar will be performing at the Calbayog Calbayog City Sports Center on December 21, 2009. For tickets you may call (055) 209-1646.

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Let me continue with the list I left you with last Monday:

• Almonds are a member of the peach family.
• An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that also. Actually I know A LOT of people like this!)
• Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
• February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
• Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• The cruise liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. (Good thing he did that.)
• The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
• Now you know more than you did before!!

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This is it for now. Have a nice weekend everyone! Ciao!