007 Sir Roger Moore is back on Hallmark for Christmas

November 28, 2011 by

SIR ROGER MOORE (left) as a Scrooge-like nobleman with his American relatives decked out for a Christmas Eve ball in the new “A Princess for Christmas.” Image courtesy Hallmark Channel.A PRINCESS FOR CHRISTMAS

Hallmark Channel Original Movie
Debuts 8 Eastern, 7 Central, Saturday December 3

Co-stars: Roger Moore as the Duke of Castlebury Hall and Katie McGrath (of the British-made Merlin TV series) as the American Jules Daly. (But, often stealing the show is 8-year-old Leilah DeMeza as the Duke’s granddaughter, who makes her first screen appearance in this film.)

Fans of Sir Roger Moore, who now is 84, have waited quite a while to see the former James Bond back in the movies. Of course, over the past decade, Moore has given us a handful of voice-over appearances in animated adventures. But, this week in A Princess for Christmas, he comes fully out of retirement to play a Scrooge-like nobleman trying to reunite the remnants of his scattered family.

This is pure Christmas candy! The movie’s goal is nothing short of sweetly strumming our heat strings with every twist and turn of the plot. Just one of many examples: The Duke manages to assemble his family in his musty old castle, but he can’t keep his hard-hearted anger in check. The old man’s heart finally melts when his tiny granddaughter begs him to help the family decorate a Christmas tree—the first tree allowed inside his castle for decades! As the scene unfolds, there are lots of twinkling lights and glistening eyes, hugs and sighs and heart-tugging lines. One sub-plot in the decorating sequence involves the tale of two little boys who once broke a favorite Christmas ornament—and, now, the twin of the smashed ornament is rediscovered. We don’t leave that grand old tree until every possible emotion is wrung from its green-and-glittering boughs. You’re thinking: Is this too much!?! Perhaps, but this is the rich-and-tasty stuff that goes into baking up a proper Christmas movie, isn’t it?

Toss into this movie mix Katie McGrath as a 20-something, misfit American woman, who gets fired from her job because of the terrible economy in the U.S.—and winds up at the nobleman’s castle partly out of desperation. At that point, you’ve got all the makings for a holiday rags-to-royalty tale that will leave you pleasantly smiling when this fairy tale finally ends.

To their credit, the producers effectively used low-cost locations in Romania to double for Baroque, vaguely British venues. Sometimes, made-for-TV movies like this cut so many corners that it’s difficult to suspend our disbelief—even willingly—to look past the plywood-and-duct-tape stage settings. Here, the castle where Roger Moore roars, until the old lion is tamed just in time for Christmas by his lovable American relations, properly dazzles with winding staircases, giant fireplaces and gilded parlors. Plenty of ball gowns, tiaras and crystal stemware are hauled out for the big Christmas Eve ball.

Who is the true “princess” for this Christmas? Well, it’s not difficult to guess, even reading this much description of the plot. Certainly, it’s one of the transformed Americans. And, no, the elderly Sir Roger doesn’t try to dip down through the decades and romance the young woman. Another, perfect suitor emerges in the course of “A Princess for Christmas.” A Prince Charming? Well, you decide …

Love Christmas movies? Don’t miss this new gem!

DID YOU MISS MITCH ALBOM’S ‘HAVE A LITTLE FAITH’? IT’S BACK!

We’ve heard from many readers, commenting on the made-for-TV movie based on Mitch Albom’s best-selling memoir, “Have a Little Faith.” Millions watched the movie, but a lot of people missed it this past weekend. Well, simply tune in the Hallmark Channel, which has a website to help you find an broadcast time that fits your schedule. The Hallmark debut of the film is on Sunday, December 4, 2011.

FAN OF 007 JAMES BOND? CONSIDER DOING BOND BIBLE STUDY

Are you a fan of James Bond 007?
Then, you know that Roger Moore is not the most popular Bond ever cast on the silver screen. To his credit, Moore was a huge star after his decade-long run in The Saint TV series. Some Roger Moore fans even enjoyed his brief TV series with Tony Curtis, The Persuaders, during which Moore was the highest-paid actor in series televsion. So, when he became James Bond for a dozen years, Moore was at the top of his game! Today, spy thrillers are serious stuff, once again, making the Roger Moore 007 films seem silly. But, that humorous tone was the sophisticated style in that era of spy thrillers. Clearly, at ReadTheSpirit, we appreciate Sir Roger.

Connect James Bond with Bible study:
ReadTheSpirit Books publishes a popular “James Bond Bible study.” The classes are lively and tend to draw newcomers into Bible study, especially men. The study also is popular with men and women in military service, as well as veterans. How do we know? The 007 Bible study literally was field tested by chaplains in Iraq. Click here to learn more about Ian Fleming’s Seven Deadlier Sins & 007’s Moral Compass: A Bible Study with James Bond.

 

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity

Gift ideas: Videos remind us of the world’s best stories

November 27, 2011 by

Happy holidays!
We are helping you find spiritually uplifting gifts that will light up the holidays for your loved ones.
Earlier: We recommended a true-crime drama, a guide to finding contentment & an unusual prayer book.
Great video: We’ve found a terrific BBC sampler, an Ed Asner classic & Tree of Life, too.
For Children of All Ages: Fold out Hanukkah, circle the globe & enjoy spiritual wisdom of animals.
Bible Study with Fresh Eyes: We’ve got a trio of new and innovative Bible-study resources.

PATRIARCH OF TOUGH-REUNION MOVIES RETURNS IN GATHERING

These days, there are countless dysfunctional families who gather on TV or in movie theaters to attempt painful year-end reunions. In 1977, the success of Ed Asner in The Gathering helped to carve out this whole genre of holiday movies. If you’re old enough to have appreciated The Gathering when it first aired, then you may be thinking about another holiday landmark in 1970s television. The Granddaddy of all family-reunion-at-the-holidays TV movies was the 1971 movie called The Homecoming that led to the long-running Waltons TV series. Of course, the friction and anxiety in The Homecoming was nothing compared to the heavy-duty themes penned by The Gathering screenwriter James Poe, who also wrote Lilies of the Field and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Sure, some moments in The Gathering are dated, today. Asner’s most explosive confrontation is with a son who fled to Canada rather than fight in Vietnam. But it’s still a pleasure to watch this cast bring Poe’s taught drama to life. This new DVD version was just released for the 2011 holidays.

TREE OF LIFE GIVES YOU THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IN A SINGLE SITTING

You either love Terence Malick’s slow, thought-provoking style of movie making—or you hate it. A good benchmark for someone’s potential acceptance of Tree of Life is their reaction to Malick’s masterpiece about the World War II battle of Gualdalcanal, called The Thin Red Line. Recently re-released by the Criterion Collection, The Thin Red Line is widely regarded as a stunning glimpse inside the traumatic experiences of fighting men. However, there’s no clear overview of the Pacific campaign in WWII, like the step-by-step history HBO gave us in that network’s recent hit series, The Pacific. Instead, in The Thin Red Line, Malick meditates on life, death and the sheer agony of being caught in between both realms on a suffocating tropical island. You walk away from The Thin Red Line both drained and amazed—or you walk away furious with the slow pace. Well, in a sense, Tree of Life feels like it might be a sequel to the sensibilities explored in Thin Red Line. In our ReadTheSpirit coverage of Tree of Life, earlier this year, we highly recommended the movie. For the right person on your Christmas list, The Tree of Life (Blu-ray/DVD Combo) will be warmly welcomed.

LOVE BBC SERIES? THIS GIFT PACK WILL LEAVE YOU CHUCKLING!

Got a taste for BBC comedy or drama? Perhaps you’re hooked on the quirky personalities who work in the Ladies’ and Men’s departments at the Grace Brothers department store in London? Sure, that series ended its 13-year run in 1985 and some of the comic bits are slightly dated—but many Americans love the reruns of Are You Being Served? Or, how about Ballykissangel, set in a quirky little town in Northern Ireland, where everyone from the priest to the pub owner is likely to get tangled up in an hour-long farce? Perhaps you’ve dipped way back in time and love Lark Rise to Candleford, which seems a lot like the American Little House on the Prairie TV series set in late-19th-century England, based on the beloved trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by Flora Thompson, published between 1939 and 1943 in the UK. We could go on and on with this quirky list: Black Adder? Lovejoy? All Creatures Great and Small? Even the Vicar of Dibley and Good Neighbors are represented in this more-than-10-hour, 4-DVD collection of holiday episodes from 13 BBC comedies and dramas. We’ve had a ball with this holiday set, enjoying our own favorites and discovering series we haven’t yet explored. We’re sure that a copy of the BBC Holiday Comedy and Drama Gift Set will light up the holidays for someone you love.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity

Gift ideas: Hanukkah & whole world for kids of all ages

November 27, 2011 by

Happy holidays!
We are helping you find spiritually uplifting gifts that will light up the holidays for your loved ones.
Earlier: We recommended a true-crime drama, a guide to finding contentment & an unusual prayer book.
Great video: We’ve found a terrific BBC sampler, an Ed Asner classic & Tree of Life, too.
For Children of All Ages: Fold out Hanukkah, circle the globe & enjoy spiritual wisdom of animals.
Bible Study with Fresh Eyes: We’ve got a trio of new and innovative Bible-study resources.

ROBERT SABUDA TACKLES HANUKKAH AND CIRCLES THE WORLD

Considering that the most common theme of Hanukkah is freedom, as Michael Rosen and Robert Sabuda point out on the first page of their new Chanukah Lights, a pop-up book—then perhaps it is fitting that there are various English-language spellings of the holiday: from Hanukkah to Chanukah. The latter spelling is Rosen’s choice. His huge range of children’s books, over the years, runs from fishing to Jewish tales and his wonderful 2006 picture book, Chanukah Lights Everywhere, uses this same spelling. However, with no disrespect intended toward Rosen, this pop-up book is quite simply another must-own Robert Sabuda extravaganza for fans of 3D, moving-paper books. For the year-end holidays, we say: Robert, it’s about time! Sabuda has produced three other winter-holiday books, including one on the 12 Days of Christmas. Finally, he turns to Hanukkah. The collaboration with Rosen led him not to repeat the ancient story of military conflict and victory. Rather, Rosen and Sabuda use eight elaborate pop ups to chart the wide diversity of Jewish experiences around the world today. There’s even a gigantic, centuries-old sailing ship in one pop up, which reminds us that the Jewish diaspora has been unfolding for a very long time.

ROUND THE WORLD WITH CANDLEWICK & HEROES LIKE NELLIE BLY

The gigantic pop-up book for Hanukkah isn’t the only world-circling journey Candlewick Press is offering at the end of this year! At ReadTheSpirit, we are journalists, so we are thrilled that this comic-book-style illustrated biography features a lively version of Nellie Bly’s round-the-world adventure. Two years ago, in 2009, we were embarrassed to overhear a mental mistake on NPR, listing Nellie Bly among a litany of “serial killers.” (No kidding! It actually happened on NPR!) As a result, we published a 2009 overview of Nellie Bly’s life as a pioneering journalist. While it is easy to dismiss Nellie as a publicity seeker, she clearly was driven to shine the light of journalism on many unfortunate corners of the human community. Even in this new graphic novel, which focuses only on her round-the-world adventure, Matt Phelan points out that she made time on Christmas Day 1889 to visit a leper colony. That was classic Nellie. This new graphic biography, Around the World: Three Remarkable Journeys, also features Thomas Stevens, the first person to cycle around the world, and Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail solo around the globe.

ECKHART TOLLE’S GUARDIANS OF BEING COMES TO PAPERBACK

All we really need to say about the third book we are recommnding today is two words: Eckhart Tolle. Millions still are inspired by his approach to teaching spiritual truth. In Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings from Our Dogs and Cats, Tolle collaborated in an unprecedented way with Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell. What is the connection point between these two very talented men? In our 2009 interview with McDonnell, which marked the hardback debut of this book, the Mutts cartoonist said: “In studying Tolle’s work—not only his books but his CDs and his DVDs—he talks about nature a lot and he talks about how animals bring us into the present moment—dogs and cats in particular. That’s at the heart of my work, too. I’m always showing readers this important bond we have with our animals. Since I started studying Eckhart’s work, some of my own work has been influenced by his teaching.” If you know someone who loves either Tolle’s or McDonnell’s work, this is a slam-dunk great gift for the holidays.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

Jesus, Christmas & N.T. Wright: Who is this Christ?

November 20, 2011 by

We welcome back best-selling Bible scholar N.T. “Tom” Wright this week to talk about Jesus—the central figure in the lives of 2 billion people around the world who are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Just in time for holiday gift giving, Wright is releasing two books that we recommend for individual reading and group discussion, FIRST: Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
AND, a contemporary translation of Scriture that Wright has been working on for years: The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation
(Both of these links take you to Amazon.)

Meet N.T. Wright This Week

Tuesday and Wednesday, we will publish our interview with Wright, focusing on each of his new books and—more importantly—on the urgent need to rethink the way many Americans seem to be invoking Jesus’ name these days. If you think of N.T. Wright as a “conservative” Christian, famous for his public debates with Bible scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, then you’ve probably missed Wright’s passion for Christians to roll up their sleeves and meet many of the world’s dire needs today. He argues vigorously that God wants us to care for our natural world and to ensure the rights and protection of the poor and vulnerable in our societies. In fact, it is Wright’s status as an “outsider” on the American scene—he is the former Anglican bishop of Durham, England—that makes him so effective at shaking up our Americanized assumptions about Jesus.

In our interview with Wright, at one point, he complains that too many American religious leaders claim that Jesus expects Christians to march after a particular, politically conservative slate of issues. Pulling no punches, Wright says: “For me as a Brit, it’s ridiculous to hear so many American Christians argue that we have to bundle up all of these political issues that conservative politicians have accumulated, through the decades, along with our Christian faith.”

Wright tells readers of Simply Jesus that he began writing this book as if envisioning a lost motorist pulling off a highway and asking a local resident, “A simple question: How do I get to Glasgow from here?” The driver is overwhelmed with maps and twisting roads and conflicting directions. He wants someone to slice thorugh the confusion and help him find a fresh orientation. In that sense, Simply Jesus might be called N.T. Wright’s Jesus 101. In this book, Wright tells us that he is envisioning the confused person who stops and asks, “Tell me about Jesus?” He wants the answer to be clear and accurate and solid enough to lead him toward Jesus. “I decided to answer the simple question by putting together, layer upon layer, in as simple a fashion as I could, what I thought might help someone who really wanted to find the way to Jesus, to Jesus as he really was, and so to find the way through Jesus to God himself and to a life in wihch ‘following Jesus’ would make sense,” the new book says.

N.T. Wright and a Christmas Story We Shouldn’t Miss

Amid all the Christmas decorations and storybooks and candle-lit services, Wright points out in his new book that Christians surely must know by heart the full version of Mary’s famous Song of Praise in Luke 1:46-55. Millions know the first part of that Song of Praise by heart (about “all generations will call me blessed”)—but they forget the jarring second part (about the world’s lowly being lifted up and the world’s rich and powerful being brought low).

Toward the end of Simply Jesus, Wright writes: “What, then, does it look like when Jesus is enthroned? It looks like new projects that do what Jesus’s mother’s great song announced: put down the mighty from their seat, exalt the humble and meek, fulfill ancient promises, but send the rich away empty.”

Lines like that are guaranteed to startle American political conservatives who think they know what Wright is preaching about a return to orthodox Christianity. In fact, Wright is preaching a Jesus who is as startling and unsettling as He was 2,000 years ago.

AND NOW: Enjoy reading our interview with N.T. “Tom” Wright about his 2 new books.

Looking beyond these two N.T. Wright books?

OTHER N.T. WRIGHT BOOKS are described in our Wright Small Group Resources page.
Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

Gift ideas: Crime story, Contentment guide, Contemplation

November 6, 2011 by

Everyone is strapped for cash this holiday season, so ReadTheSpirit plans to help readers make smart choices of books and DVDs that will cheer—and inspire—the men and women in your life. Starting today, we are recommending holiday gift ideas. Plus, this week we will publish interviews with all three of these authors, so you can learn more about their work. If you wind up purchasing these books as gifts, you may want to print out the interviews later this week to enclose with these gifts.
(Click the titles or the covers, below, to jump to Amazon and order copies.)

DAVID R. STOKES: THE SHOOTING SALVATIONIST

Most Americans tell pollsters that faith is important in their lives—and most Americans love mysteries!
Check out any week’s listing of bestelling books and you’ll find murder mysteries and true-crime page-turners dominating the list. Unfortunately, readers rarely are able to connect theology and thrillers. Now, David Stokes is giving us both thrills—and a whole lot to ponder about the nature of religious leadership in America. The Shooting Salvationist: J. Frank Norris and the Murder Trial that Captivated America is quite simply a fun “read.” Or, if you are part of a book-discussion group, you might want to mull over issues raised by Stokes’ history of a ruthless religious entrepreneur. This cautionary tale is set in the 1920s, but the Rev. J. Frank Norris was an early model for today’s politically powerful mega-church preachers. He managed to run enormous churches both in Texas and Michigan. But, he wound up in headlines coast to coast when he shot and killed an unarmed parishioner in his church—then claimed that he was acting in self defense. (And, meet author David Stokes in a ReadTheSpirit interview.)

ROBERT J. WICKS: STREAMS OF CONTENTMENT

Lots of books promise happiness, but most Americans know that they’re not going to turn their lives around in 10 Easy Steps, no matter who is pitching the latest get-successful-quickly scheme. No, it’s time to set our sights on something much more practical—and, in the long run, much more likely to bring us enduring joy. Robert Wicks already is a beloved author and a highly respected therapist with a string of popular books to his credit. Now, in Streams of Contentment: Lessons I Learned on My Uncle’s Farm,Wicks mixes his lifelong expertise in overcoming trauma with a wealth of grassroots wisdom he has picked up over a lifetime. “Life is simpler than we make it,” Wicks writes in the introduction. “Knowing this can encourage us to focus more directly on what is truly important and essential to life.” If you are just discovering Robert Wicks’ name in this review, click here to read our 2009 interview with him about his earlier book, called Prayerfulness. (And, meet author Robert Wicks in our ReadTheSpirit interview about Streams of Contentment.)

SARAH ARTHUR: AT THE STILL POINT

Toward the end of each year, bales of prayer books and 365-day guides to contemplation crowd onto store shelves. Some are packaged as page-a-day calendars; some are geared toward one particular denomination; some are inspirational collections from a single best-selling writer.
Why so many prayer books? Since the vast majority of Americans tell pollsters they pray on a regular basis—a prayer book is a great gift. What’s tough is finding a unique volume. That’s what Sarah Arthur gives us in “At the Still Point,” which she describes as “a literary guide to prayer.” In fact, Sarah’s book is so unusual, we recommended it once last summer—and we are recommending it again for year-end gift giving. (Meet Sarah Arthur in our new ReadTheSpirit interview about At the Still Point.)
Many of our readers already are familiar with Sarah’s earlier devotional books that link popular culture with spiritual treasures from the Christian tradition. You might have enjoyed her Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings—or perhaps her Walking through the Wardrobe: A Devotional Quest into The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
Now in At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time Sarah ushers us into a library full of poetry and prose where we meet dozens of writers from Jane Austin to Victor Hugo. There are some contemporary excerpts, as well, including Kathleen Norris and Garrison Keillor. In At the Still Point, there are many prayers and recommended scripture readings, but the spiritual art of this book is reflecting on Sarah’s selection of literary passages. This is a perfect gift for the relative or friend who loves reading—and enjoys finding deeper spiritual connections.

Please help us to reach a wider audience

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, tell a friend to start reading along with you!
We welcome your Emails at [email protected]
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Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

White House Celebrates ‘Simple Gifts’

December 24, 2010 by

First Lady Michelle Obama and White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses laugh as a young visitor tastes her decorated cookie during a holiday craft demonstration with the children of military personnel in the State Dining Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)We listed the White House website in our recent story on BEST OF THE CHRISTMAS WEB. The White House staff continues to add to the holiday presentations, which earlier included Hanukkah and soon will include Kwanzaa.

One of the best holiday offerings from “our house” is a colorful Holiday White House Tour booklet you can download via this link and print out. The booklet includes several recipes, including one for gingerbread ornaments—perhaps too late for this year, but great to save.

CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE:

The Obamas issued a holiday greeting on behalf of all Americans—as they do for all major religious holidays throughout the year. Today, Christmas Eve, they said in part:

MICHELLE OBAMA: This is the “People’s House.” So Barack and I try to open it to as many people as we can, especially during the holiday season. This month, more than 100,000 Americans have passed through these halls. And the idea behind this year’s theme, “Simple Gifts,” is that the greatest blessings of all are the ones that don’t cost a thing—the comfort of spending time with loved ones…the freedoms we enjoy as Americans… and the joy we feel upon giving something of ourselves. So in this time of family, friends, and good cheer; let’s also be sure to look out for those who are less fortunate, who’ve hit a run of bad luck, or who are hungry and alone this holiday season.

THE PRESIDENT: Because this is the season when we celebrate the simplest yet most profound gift of all: the birth of a child who devoted his life to a message of peace, love, and redemption. A message that says no matter who we are, we are called to love one another—we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper, our separate stories in this big and busy world are really one.

Care to read more? Check out our BEST OF THE CHRISTMAS WEB.

 

Saving Christmas—avoid Xmas hell; here’s best of Web

December 22, 2010 by

Seriously now, DON’T try this at home! It’ll only depress you. Don’t search for best Christmas websites using Google or other onilne search engines. You’ll find yourself caught in endless circles of the worst online retail hell. Even Dante would be horrified. We’re not opposed to responsible online retailing, but some of these Christmas sites are obvious scams! Apparently, web-savvy Grinches have snapped up a bunch of holiday web addresses that sound family friendly—but aren’t.

Want to do a “good deed” to restore holiday sanity? Stop by “What’s a True Necessity?” in our own OurValues website and add your comment about what’s truly essential for Christmas. That’s a certified “good deed.”

Are we afraid of Web Grinches who’ve taken over the search engines? Naw!!! We are professional journalists, after all. We are your eyes and ears on the horizon, looking for the best in spiritual media. So, we took it as a personal challenge to elbow out those Internet scamsters—and find these great Christmas sites …

St. Nicholas Center—best of the ‘real’ Santa Claus

Our friend Carol Myers deserves a huge “Merry Christmas” for building the world’s best St. Nicholas website. No exaggeration! Carol and her colleague Jim Rosenthal have devoted years to amassing this enormous gift to families.

Check out Our Festivals-and-Holidays Christmas Story

Each year, we cover 100s of holidays celebrated by religious communities around the world. And, this week, we’ve got a fascinating story about the religious traditions of Christmas. Our story includes lots of links to travel further into faith. We’ve even got links to some traditional recipes.

NORAD tracks Santa! Nostalgic News Is Back

Remember those black-and-white TV news reports in the ’50s and ’60s about Santa’s sleigh showing up on the U.S. early warning system? Well, a bunch of good-hearted online groups, including units of the U.S. Air Force, have reproduced that experience online.

White House offers Simple Gifts

One of the few “public” sites that has cool Christmas offerings—without annoying pop-up ads trying to sell us tickets to a holiday getaway—is the site for “our” house, the White House. There’s a video on this year’s Simple Gifts theme, an interactive opportunity to post a holiday message for people serving in the military and even a couple of recipes. (And, yes, because it is “our” house and “we” are diverse, there are links to earlier White House Hanukkah posts on the same page.)

Read Christmas Classics from Dickens, Henry and Baum

Unless you’re a regular visitor to the massive Gutenberg website of free books, Web search engines can send you to hell and back looking for these Christmas classics. So, we’ve gathered a cluster of the best links to Christmas classics. (Note: If you’re new to Gutenberg, look around the site and you’ll quickly find ways to download books to read on your computer, print at home or load into your e-reading devices.)

Story of the 1914 Christmas Truce

Hollywood loves this story. Video versions of “Christmas Truce” tales are available each year before Christmas. Some stories are set in WWII during the Battle of the Bulge. Some depict the well-documented truce during WWI. But what’s fiction—and what’s the true story of the famous 1914 truce? Lots of Web sites tell the story, but we recommend the Christmas Truce story in Michael Duffy’s labor of love—his website called First World War that he’s been expanding over the past decade.

Something Silly for Cat Fanciers: Cats in Christmas Trees

Yes. That’s about the size of it: Cats in trees. If that idea seems dumb to you—move on to the next item. If you love cats, then you may enjoy this odd-ball webpage called “Christmas Decorating 101” that is a clever collection of snapshots. Then, more snapshots. Oh, and there’s even a link to “Page 2”—even more cats in trees. (Hey, either it’s your cup of catnip—or not.) Want more substantive pet stuff? Check out our 6-part series on terrific books about the animals we love.

For All Those Weary Retailers: Someone Will Put It Back

Toilet tissue dumped in a clothing aisle.Millions of Americans work in retail sales and, at this time of year, one of the Grinchiest things we can do is—dump merchandise we don’t want in some random spot in a store. This drives the men and women who staff our stores—nuts. Imagine piles of discarded foods, department store fitting rooms heaped with discarded clothes—and weary retailers sorting out our messes. Well, this website makes the point that it’s grotesque. (Warnings: This site may load slowly; also it’s aimed at adults and occasionally the language is R-rated.) The site reminds us that, sometimes, it’s simply a “good deed” to put things back where we found them, because someone else will have to put it back.

Speaking of Good Deeds: Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count

Audubon hosts this fascinating webpage about the annual “Christmas” assessment of our winged neighbors—which actually takes place in early January. Did you know that this annual event, involving thousands of volunteers, began as a 19th-century hunting practice. The modern count, focused on conservation rather than hunting, is 110 years old this year.

Finally, Want to See ‘Our’ Tree Decorated in 1 Minute?

The White House provides this time-lapse video of tree decoration in “our” house. Click the video screen, below. It only takes a minute …

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We want our international conversation to continue

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, email us at [email protected] and tell us what you think of our stories—and, please tell a friend to start reading along with you!

We welcome your Emails! . We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed. Plus, there’s a free Monday-morning “Planner” newsletter you may enjoy.

(Originally published at readthespirit.com)