0 Happy Festivus!

Merry Christmas! A topographically correct Christmas tree ornament! 

OK, couldn’t resist doing a Christmas-themed posting! And I found out that in my soon-to-be-home in Scotland, they call this "the festive season," which of course reminded me of George Constanza's father on the old Seinfeld sitcom who wanted to change the name of the Christmas holiday season to the non-denominational "Festivus," with his catchy slogan "Festivus for the Rest of us!" So, whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or nothing more than "Peace on Earth, Good Will towards All," I wish you a happy and peaceful season. And festive, of course!

Here are some seasonally-appropriate maps, including one from our friends at NOAA depicting the probability of a White Christmas in the U.S.; The one right below is the ACTUAL forecast of a White Christmas for 2011.

Santa’s Special Places Map, showing Christmas-related toponyms;

Map showing the locations of communities who engage in filling up jars of change for the poor (??!!), from a website called christmasjars.com;

And of course, don’t forget the ever-popular NORAD Santa-tracker.  If you have small kids who still “believe,” this is a cool activity you can do on the computer or smart phone at the NORAD website on Christmas Eve.  The North American Aerospace Defense Command does this every year, and it is actually pretty fun to watch in real time.  How does he get around the world delivering all those gifts in one night?  Now you can find out!  http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk-gm&utm_term=norad%20santa

And, can’t let the holiday season get us all treacle-y and sentimental – Here’s some holiday-themed graffiti to sober us up!  (Thanks, Urban Demographics blog, for posting this photo.)