Christmas

Here's some Mummers trivia to help fill the time gaps between marching units: FIRST ARREST OF A MUMMER: In 1702 John Smith, a resident of Strawberry Alley, was charged in a grand jury presentment of "being masked or disguised in women's apparel; stalking openly through the streets of the city from house to house. It being against the law of God, the law of the province and the law of nature. " The offense happened Christmas night and comes from the old English custom of Christmas mummery that involved going house to house in costume for drinks and cakes.

Cynical sorts - along with inquiring skeptics and sincere disbelievers - are ever so annually diligent to spread the word that Christmas is an expropriated celebration. That every culture has had a winter solstice-time party. That Jesus couldn't have been born in December. That Judean shepherds never stayed out with the flocks overnight at this time of year. Could be. So what? Fact is, it's Christmas. Most certainly, Christmas is part of everyone's life. Not just the pious Christians.

AT A TIME when most of us are busily preparing for Christmas, let us remember and thank our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. To those who protected our freedom in World War II, thank you. To those who fought in Korea and Vietnam, thank you. To those who fought in the Gulf War, thank you. And to those firefighters and police officers in New York, the ones who head into a burning building as we are heading out, and lost their...

We know now that for the first three hundred thousand years after the big bang the universe was completely dark . . . it was only then that the first light began to emerge. And tonight I tuck my daughter in and catch a glimpse . . . And tonight I kiss my sleeping son on his head and catch a glimpse of the Incarnation. The author lives and writes in West Mt. Airy.

Passing a church nativity scene, one December day in 1958, a woman on a bus was heard to say, "Oh, Lord! They bring religion into everything. Look! They're dragging it even into Christmas now!" It seemed funny at the time. Today, it has become a remarkably accurate statement of the American view of Christmas. The secular, commercial festival is the norm, and attempts to drag religion into it - or to remind people that it is the celebration of Christ's birth - are rigorously suppressed.

When Emily Russell's two young sons wake up on Christmas morning, they'll find that Santa left them a note instead of the video games they requested. "Hey, I couldn't get by your house last night," Russell, a single mother from Kernersville, N.C., believes the note will say. "Your mom is going to take you to the store when she can. " Some people have always postponed Christmas celebrations because their jobs don't pause for the holiday. But in this weak economy, folks are delaying Christmas for another reason: money.

In a home in Burlington City where simple seasonal signs adorn doors and walls, and strangers come and leave presents, it's a true first Christmas - a first for the home, a first for the babies, a first for the teenagers who live there, who are ending a year as new mothers or beginning another as soon-to-be mothers. The home belongs to Crossroads, which welcomes pregnant teens, and lets them stay until their babies are 1 year old. The home opened in June.

In the end, I suppose, Christmas '98 will be much like Christmas '76, '81, '95 - or '03, for that matter. But it's Christmas 1990 that will always remain with me. That Christmas, I didn't find myself sipping apple cider, breaking open fresh almonds, sitting near the fireplace, or laughing with my daughters. That Christmas, I found myself in the Saudi Arabian desert, under an army tent, only dreaming of these things. We'd been alerted months earlier at our home station in Bamberg, Germany.

The Christmas caroling filling the air and the delicious aroma of gingerbread and cookies wafting from many kitchens have worked their magic. If you, too, are hooked by the spirit of Kris Kringle and want to wade into the middle of the festivity but still avoid crowds and commercialism, you'll enjoy this week's Going Places. They let you participate in the warmth and hospitality of this holiday season in family homes within two hours driving time from Philadelphia. Catch a sense of Christmas Past at the Mount Hope Estate and Winery in Cornwall, 15 miles north of Lancaster.

DEAR SOLOMON, Eve and Adrianne, Christmas began at a time when the only thing that could save the world was a new beginning. Christmas began with a child. This year, as we celebrate the birth of love in its highest form, I celebrate each of you. I pause to reflect on the moment you came into the world, to remember the first time I held you, to look back on the laughter we've shared. But most of all, I pause to thank God for the gift of redemption. For you see, it was in learning to be a father that I learned to be a man. I grew strong on the nights when I rocked you to sleep.

Earth Day, the environmentalist holy day, is approaching again, reminding us that environmentalism has become a kind of religion. Which raises a question: Why is it OK to teach environmental religion in public schools, while the teaching of Judaism, Christianity, and other traditional religions is not constitutionally permitted? As Joel Garreau, a former Washington Post editor, wrote in 2010, "faith-based environmentalism increasingly sports saints, sins, prophets, predictions, heretics, sacraments and rituals.

For our first Christmas after retirement, we chose to do something different. As a pastor, my previous 39 Christmas Eves had been spent leading worship. As happy as that experience was, the thought of being free was also exciting. So on the morning of Dec. 24, my wife, Hope, and I left the quiet central Pennsylvania town of Gratz (population 662) and drove to New York City. At lunch before seeing War Horse at Lincoln Center, Hope whispered that Hoda Kotb was at the next table.

On Sunday, B. Someday's Family Theatre Series will bring the holiday spirit into the new year with the stage production "Un Viaje - A Christmas Journey" at the Centre Theater in Norristown. The bilingual production in English and Spanish is part of the third-annual Independent Voices Festival. It features performance groups from this region celebrating Christmas and the Latino holiday tradition of The Three Kings. The production tells the story of Marissa and her children, Luisa and Kaiser, who visit their grandmother for the holidays.

A 24-year-old Philadelphia man has been arrested for the Christmas slaying of another man at a Cheltenham home. Authorities said Rayshon Carwheel was taken into custody Friday and charged with murdering Robens Borno, 25, as he wrapped presents with his new girlfriend early on Christmas. Carwheel was the woman's former boyfriend and the father of their child, according to police. She had broken up with him and begun a relationship with Borno in early December. In addition, Ezra Childs, 21, was arrested Monday morning at his home in the 3900 block of Dell Street.

Police in Philadelphia have arrested a 24-year-old man for the Christmas Day slaying of another man inside a home in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County. Rayshon Carwheel was taken into custody and charged with murdering Robens Borno, 25, as the latter wrapped Christmas presents with his new girlfriend early on Christmas morning, officials said. Police said Carwheel, of Philadelphia, was the woman's former boyfriend and father of their child. The woman broke up with him and began a relationship with Borno in early December, officials said.

BETHLEHEM - The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy yesterday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened. The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations - Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Yesterday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the West Bank church to which they lay claim.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 24-year-old man in the Christmas Day shooting death of another man in a Cheltenham Township home, officials announced Tuesday. Police said jealously was the motive that prompted Rayshon Carwheel to kill Robens Borno inside the house in the 1400 block of Beech Avenue in the Melrose Park section. Borno, 25, of Philadelphia, was wrapping gifts with his new girlfriend and her mother in the dining room of their home in the early hours of Sunday when Carwheel barged in with another man and opened fire on the victim.

Three burglars used rocks to break into Cherry Hill Mall on Christmas and steal more $35,000 worth of electronics from the Apple Store, township police said Monday. But the burglars didn't factor in the mall security cameras. Cameras captured the burglars driving up to the mall in a Nissan, putting on ski masks, and breaking in around 4:45 a.m., Lt. Bill Kushina said. Mall security immediately contacted police. "While they were breaking in, we had guys en route," Kushina said.

Shoppers flocked to stores Monday to spend their gift cards, snap up deals at early-morning sales, and eat at some of their favorite restaurants. With Christmas falling on a Sunday, Monday was a holiday, but to many people, that was a technicality. "The mall is absolutely packed. We opened early, at 7 a.m., and we've been busy all day," Ashlyn Delson, marketing director for Willow Grove Park mall, said Monday. Some retailers offered one-day-only bargains or specialty items to lure shoppers.