Download or read book The Xmas Files written by Stephen Law and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2011-12-15 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosophical but fun look at the meanings of Christmas myths and rituals, from carving the turkey to why Santa wears red. Picture the scene: Aunt Gertrude has just given you the most appalling Christmas tie, complete with snow-flecked kittens in a bowler hat. Do you smile, nod, and confine it to the bottom drawer? Or do you tell the truth and spare yourself future ties from hell? Kant would say that we must, at all costs, tell the truth - whilst Mill would insist that we should think of the consequences. THE XMAS FILES is a philosophical meander though the myths and rituals of Christmas today, asking such important questions as does Santa exist? What's wrong with Christmas kitsch? Is it all just a commercial racket? What was Augustine's attitude to 'peace on earth'? And what would David Hume have to say about the virgin birth? For underneath all the festive fun, the way we celebrate Christmas does raise serious questions about the beliefs that sustain us, and the ways in which we still value ritual and tradition as a means of coming together.
Download or read book The Xmas Files written by Nicky Winder and published by Pen Press Publishers Limited. This book was released on 2007-10-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rumours are rife - Father Christmas doesn't exist Bah humbug - it's time to reveal the truth about the Man in Red. No more doubts - this is indisputable proof.
Download or read book The X mas Files written by Pat Shand and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Find out what really happens behind the scenes at Santa’s workshop in a Christmas countdown book that reveals the secrets of the North Pole! An unauthorized tell-all penned by an ousted South Pole elf with an X-mas ax to grind exposes what really goes on at the North Pole in the 24 days leading up to Christmas. This hilarious, day-by-day accounting pulls back the red velvet curtain to reveal the truth behind Santa’s Christmas “magic” and delivers laugh-out-loud fun for the whole family with activities for 24 days plus added surprises hidden throughout. COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: Packed with activities and ideas for family fun for every day from December 1st to 24th HOLIDAY HUMOR: Filled with funny lines and silly scenes that will keep kids laughing throughout the lead-up to Christmas BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED: Vibrant illustrations bring the ideas—and Santa’s secrets—to life START A NEW TRADITION: The X-mas Files is sure to become a treasured family tradition year after year PERFECT PRESENT: A great gift for kids and families
Download or read book The Xmas Files written by Patrick Harding and published by Metro Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a treasure chest full of fascinating facts surrounding the myths andagic of Christmas. The traditional nativity story we all know and loveonjures up images of the inn, the stable, shepherds and the three wise men.ut there is more to the history of Christmas than most people are aware.ere, Patrick Harding delves deep into the background of the Christmasituals we now take for granted: sending cards, singing carols, eating turkey and of course the arrival of Santa Claus. This is a festive read for thoseho want to know more about our traditions and those intrigued by folklorend history.
Download or read book The Xmas Factor written by Jonathan Meres and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-08 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hilarious collection stuffed with jokes, funny poems, weird and wonderful Christmas facts*,crazy lists, Brussels sprouts**, doodles and other Christmas craziness. A perfect stocking filler to keep the whole family giggling. * Some facts may not be entirely true. ** Like this one. There are no Brussels sprouts included with this book. Sorry.
Download or read book The X Mas Files written by Ralph M. Betters and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-06-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone says that Christmas is a magic time, but could there be more to that saying than just a clever platitude for holiday greeting cards? The X-mas Files vows to find out if the truth really is out there. The book is a complete compendium of real Santa Claus sightings, holiday ghost stories, angel and magical creature encounters, and real Christmas miracles. From spotting Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve to receiving visits from ghosts during the holidays, from miraculous healings to angelic interventions, the witnesses in this book provide evidence and testimony that there really is something magical about Christmas. The book is divided into five sections. The first three cover Claus Encounters of the First, Second, and Third kinds. Claus encounters of the First Kind are cases that feature witnesses who have seen flying objects during Christmas. Second and third kinds are more up close and personal encounters with the Man in Red. Next, we'll hear tales about spirits and ghosts that haunt our houses, mansions, and castles during this festive time of year. Angels, we'll also discover, aren't just hanging out at the top branch of the Christmas tree, they are all around us during the holidays. Then, we'll be amazed by accounts of Christmas miracles and cases of holiday healings. Each section features dozens of stories from dependable sources. Whether you're a believer or a skeptic, a Scrooge or a Santa wannabe, there's something for you in the X-mas Files.
Download or read book The Christmas Files written by Alan Wilkinson and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2014-05-27 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christmas Files: Operation Snowstorm is a hugely entertaining comedy thriller that shows us Santa and his toymaking operation as we've never seen them before. The story centres around ruthless billionaire Luther Averus's plot to get rid of Santa and claim Christmas for himself. To further his evil ends he recruits a young elf and former thief called Genk Relbeck. Genk at first goes along with the plan but rebels when he realises the extent of Averus's wicked intentions. The action flits furiously back and forth between New York and the North Pole as Genk races against time to save the day. In the middle of it all is Santa, struggling to hold on to the spirit of Christmas as he faces the pressures of the modern world and a pushy marketing director who wants him to hit the chat show circuit.
Download or read book Watching the Wheels written by Wayne Wood and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2003-07 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of wisdom, humor, and tasteless remarks from Vanderbilt University's House Organ magazine: . Every morning when I would leave for work, he would give me the saddest look he could muster. If you know anything about beagles, you know that this is the canine equivalent of the death scene from Camille. When a beagle wants to look sad, he can roll his big brown droopy eyes up at you and pull his ears back, and you will do anything to make him happier. In fact, many beagles earn top commissions in the sales field by giving customers that sad look until they crack and buy whatever the beagle is selling. "I'll buy anything," the customers cry, throwing money at the beagle, "just stop looking at me like that!" . The voice-mail mantra, "Your call is very important to us" is always a lie. If my call were actually important to you, you would answer the phone instead of putting me on hold and playing an orchestral version of the old Buoys hit "Timothy." A portion of all profits from the sale of this book goes to the Jade Pasley Patient and Family Assistance Fund of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Download or read book Christmas and the British A Modern History written by Martin Johnes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-10-06 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern Christmas was made by the Victorians and rooted in their belief in commerce, family and religion. Their rituals and traditions persist to the present day but the festival has also been changed by growing affluence, shifting family structures, greater expectations of happiness and material comfort, technological developments and falling religious belief. Christmas became a battleground for arguments over consumerism, holiday entitlements, social obligations, communal behaviour and the influence of church, state and media. Even in private, it encouraged reflection on social change and the march of time. Amongst those unhappy at the state of the world or their own lives, Christmas could induce much cynicism and even loathing but for a quieter majority it was a happy time, a moment of a joy in a sometimes difficult world that made the festival more than just an integral feature of the calendar: Christmas was one of British culture's emotional high points. Moreover, it was also a testimony to the enduring importance of family, shared values and a common culture in the UK. Martin Johnes shows how Christmas and its traditions have been lived, adapted and thought about in Britain since 1914. Christmas and the British is about the festival's social, cultural and economic functions, and its often forgotten status as both the most unusual and important day of the year
Download or read book Organizing Christmas written by Philip Hancock and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2023-08-11 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organizing Christmas is an exploration of the organizational character of Christmas. Taking as its starting point the view that Christmas initially achieved popularity due to its potential to promote social cohesion and political stability, this book both charts and scrutinizes its global emergence as the year's preeminent economic and organizational event. Combining historical narrative, original interviews, and social scientific research and theories, it tells the story of how Christmas has come to dominate the festival landscape and how it emerged as an integral component of the global evolution of contemporary social and economic relations. From the pre-Christian celebrations and politics of the turning of the calendar year, through the power games of Elizabethan England and the wily reinvention of the season by industrious Victorians, to today’s huge economic and logistical exercise that relies on everything from global supply chains to the domestic division of labour, Organizing Christmas demonstrates how the season exemplifies the spirit and practices of industrial, and now post-industrial, modernity. As well as documenting this fact, however, Organizing Christmas also critically interrogates what has become a vast festive-industrial complex. From low-paid factory workers in Yiwu to Santa Claus performers in Kingston, readers are given a chance to consider what the cost of this global festival might be and whether it is a price worth paying. Drawing on intellectual resources ranging from Adorno and Horkheimer’s classic critique of the culture industry, thorough Böhme’s analysis of the sociomaterial production of atmospheres, to Bloch’s ‘principle of hope’, it paints a picture of Christmas as a profoundly important, if deeply contested historical, cultural and, most significantly, organizational phenomenon. Aimed at students and academics in Organization Studies, Cultural Studies, and the Sociology of Work and Employment, as well as the general reader interested in the festive season, Organizing Christmas offers a differing perspective on a subject so familiar and yet so often overlooked.
Download or read book Analyzing Christmas in Film written by Lauren Rosewarne and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-12-06 with total page 559 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Film plays a vital role in the celebration of Christmas. For decades, it has taught audiences about what the celebration of the season looks like – from the decorations to the costumes and to the expected snowy weather – as well as mirrors our own festivities back to us. Films like It’s a Wonderful Life and Home Alone have come to play key roles in real-life domestic celebrations: watching such titles has become, for many families, every bit as important as tree-trimming and leaving cookies out for Santa. These films have exported the American take on the holiday far and wide and helped us conjure an image of the perfect holiday. Rather than settling the ‘what is a Christmas film?’ debate – indeed, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are discussed within – Analyzing Christmas in Film: Santa to the Supernatural focuses on the how Christmas is presented on the deluge of occasions when it appears. While most Christmas films are secular, religion makes many cameos, appearing through Nativity references, storylines involving spiritual rebirth, the framing of Santa as a Christ-like figure and the all-importance of family, be it the Holy family or just those gathered around the dining table. Also explored are popular narratives involving battles with stress and melancholy, single parents and Christmas martyrs, visits from ghosts and angels, big cities and small towns, break-ups and make-ups and the ticking clock of mortality. Nearly 1000 films are analyzed in this volume to determine what the portrayal of Christmas reveals about culture, society and faith as well as sex roles, consumerism, aesthetics and aspiration.
Download or read book The Medieval Christmas written by Sophie Jackson and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2013-10-07 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medieval Christmas – roaring fires, Yule logs, boar's head on a platter and carols. So many of our best-loved traditions have their origins in the medieval period that it would be impossible to imagine the season without holly and ivy, carol singers calling from door to door and a general sense of celebration in the face of the harshest season. Sophie Jackson investigates the roots of the Christmas celebration in this beautifully illustrated book. She offers guidance for re-creating elements of the medieval Christmas at home, tips on decorations, instructions for playing medieval games and recipes for seasonal dishes. Fascinating facts about some of our most cherished customs, such as the nativity crib, are unearthed, as are some that are less well known – wassailing the apple trees, the ritual beating of children on 28 December and the appointment of a Lord of Misrule and a boy bishop. Lively and entertaining, this book illuminates the medieval Christmas, showing how the traditions of the Middle Ages continue to delight us today.
Download or read book The Christmas Files 2 Averus Returns written by Alan Wilkinson and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's been three years since Genk Relbeck foiled Operation Snowstorm and all is quiet at The Grotto. But when Luther Averus is broken out of prison, Genk, Rakki and Santa face a whole new threat. And this time it's closer to home.
Download or read book 2007 Eleven written by Frank Cammuso and published by Villard. This book was released on 2000-09-19 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the pages of The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Slate stagger Frank Cammuso and Hart Seely, restoring a cheerful sanity to our deranged lives and times. Every now and then, funny writing somehow manages to retain full possession of literary quality. Please see Twain, Heller, Benchley, Parker, Frazier, Geng. And now please see Cammuso and Seely. If you're not some famous person in our hyped, commodified, three-screen (movie, TV, computer), celeb-ridden society, count your blessings. Because if you are, Cammuso and Seely will probably get you sooner or later. They got Martha Stewart--they have her planning gracious plans for her version of the Son of God's final repast: "Jesus has indicated--against my better wishes--that He intends to gird Himself with a towel and wash everybody's feet. So be it. But beforehand, I'll run his terry cloth for five minutes in the dryer, making it toasty and soft." They (fondly) postu-late how Phil Rizzuto might have written a characteristically fractionated version of "Casey at the Bat": "'Fraud!' cried the maddened thousands, and the echo murmured 'Fraud.' / Hey, Murcer! Look! Bea Arthur! Didn't she play Maude?" The Flintstones become the Clintstones, Quentin Tarantino directs The Three Little Pigs, and Dr. Seuss collaborates poetically with Rod Serling. Even when the targets of these pieces are of the moment, Cammuso and Seely's humor will endure. What's more evanescent than pop-music stardom? Sex, maybe, but not much else. But who won't laugh, even years from now, as Cammuso and Seely--in "Six Degrees of Chuck Berry"--introduce some of the record industry's often interchangeable personages to each other: "Tanya, Enya. Enya, Shania. Shania, Mariah. Mariah, Wynonna. Wynonna, Fiona . . . " Nobody.
Download or read book Thanks for the Spam written by Mary Jane Winter and published by Author House. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to the Seasonal Version of Thanks for the [SPAM] - a collection of my favourite forwards (those little gems of wisdom - daily giggles and fun facts that lighten our daily grind from people we dont know and our friend who sent it to their entire friends list - who sent it to their entire friends list - who sent it to their entire friends list...) Now available in PRINT to read in the bathroom!
Download or read book The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia written by Bill Harry and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ringo Starr was the genuine working-class member of the Beatles. Born into poverty in a tiny house in Liverpool's Dingle area, deserted by his father, he suffered years of illness which seriously affected his schoolwork. Despite having all the odds against him, he became one of the most famous people on the planet. The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia completes the Virgin series on the individual Beatles and in the most comprehensive book about Ringo Starr ever written.
Download or read book The Christmas File written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
