Last Day of Christmas

So today's officially the twelfth and last day of Christmas. Tomorrow, the Christmas markets will be closing until the next Christmas season here in Strasbourg and all the decorations and bright lights will be taken down. Kind of sad to think about. Icing on the cake, my final exams start today. Oh killjoy!

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are a Cute Christmas Card

You love the holidays, and it's hard for you to feel any sort of seasonal burnout. You're the person who thinks the holidays don't start soon enough. You have your Christmas cards picked out months in advance. The holidays make you feel happy and content. You're tickled by every gift you receive and every old friend you reconnect with. You are a thoughtful gift giver, and you take the time to make each object you give unique and special. You like to see someone's eyes light up when they open your present.

What Kind of Christmas Card Are You?

Eleventh Day of Christmas

In America, we stereotype Europe as being more "racist". I suppose this article about a Northern Italian town's idea of a "white Christmas" might add fire to the stereotyping flame.

Italy's Northern League in 'White Christmas' immigrant purge

By Michael Day in Milan

The local council of the northern Italian town of Coccaglio is dreaming of a White Christmas this year.

But Bing Crosby's schmaltzy song has nothing to do with their plans. Instead, local officials from the xenophobic Northern League party are relying on some seasonal ethnic cleansing to purify the town. They are launching an officially-sanctioned drive to identify and expel as many non-Europeans as possible before Christmas.

Operation "White Christmas", as it has been dubbed, will see officials calling at the homes of all 400 or so of the town's extracomunitari – as foreigners from outside the EU are known in Italy – between now and 25 December in order to scrutinise their papers.

Those whose residence permits are found to have expired six months or more before, and who cannot prove that they have attempted to renew them, will be shown the door. The town's Northern League Mayor, Franco Claretti, ordered the move after receiving new powers that entitled him to check the residency status of all foreigners in the town, which has a total population of around 8,500,

Northern League member Claudio Abiendi, the councillor in charge of security in the town, which is an hour's drive east of Milan, said that so far 50 per cent of those checked did not have permission to be in Italy. Commenting on the timing of the policy, he told La Repubblica newspaper: "For me Christmas isn't the holiday of hospitality, but rather that of the Christian tradition and of our identity."

The local opposition, led by Luigi Lotto, who until June this year was the centre-left mayor, attacked the scheme as propaganda designed to prey on people's fears. "I left the town united, with no problems regarding integration," he said.

Mayor Claretti denied that the purge was prompted by problems with law and order in the town. "There isn't any criminality here," he said. "We just want to start cleaning [the place] up."

Officials claim that mayors in neighbouring Northern League strongholds such as Castelcovati and Castrezzato are adopting similar policies. The Northern League is an influential member of Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government, and enjoyed a surge in support at the last election. Its tub-thumping leader, Umberto Bossi, has long been one of Berlusconi's confidants.

Today's Random Quiz:

You are Brightly Optimistic

During the holidays, you're the one who has a bit of cheer for everyone. Even when things get hectic and chaotic, you keep on smiling. You believe it's important to have a spirit of generosity and gratitude all the time... but especially this time of year. You get more satisfaction from giving than receiving. You're always going out of your way to improve someone's day a little.

The Christmas Tree Test

10th Day of Christmas

Did you get any unwanted gifts? I guess I did get a couple, despite my attempts to avoid this dilemma with an online list.

Aussies say "no thanks" to 20 million gifts

SYDNEY (Reuters) – How many unwanted gifts did you get under the Christmas tree? If you're Australian, the number is likely to be more than one, amounting to a nationwide total of 20 million "useless" presents, according to a survey.

The survey, commissioned by online marketplace eBay, found that although Australians spent A$8.5 billion (US$7.5 billion) buying gifts this Christmas, at least A$1 billion worth of these presents will either be left to gather dust in a cupboard, binned, regifted, exchanged or sold.

Examples of unwanted gifts ranged from underwear, socks, bath products and inappropriately sexual items to a tandoori spice rub for chicken given to a vegetarian and a dog bowl for a dogless recipient, a brick and cellulite cream, an eBay statement said.

The eBay survey of more than 1,200 people also found that more women than men received unwanted gifts this year, while youth aged between 18 and 24 years got the most unwanted presents, which they were likely to throw out or hide away.

An earlier survey showed that more than 825,000 gifts will go straight into the garbage bin in Australia this Christmas because their recipients just hated them.

With Australia's economy still battling to shake off the effects of the global financial crisis, more than a third of Australians had planned to spend less on Christmas gifts this year, compared with the previous year, according to a recent survey by the Melbourne Institute and Westpac Bank.

Today's Random Quiz:

Your Holiday Wish is Being with Family and Friends

The holidays are near and dear to your heart. You don't need much to make you happy this time of year. As long as you're able to be near the people you love most, you are content. It's really that simple. You want nothing more than a full house of people celebrating the season. It doesn't matter if it's your house or not, just as long as everyone is there. And if someone doesn't happen to be around during the holidays, you think about him or her often. You get very sentimental this time of year.

What's Your Holiday Wish?

Ninth Day of Christmas

Maybe someone is really scared of the Christmas goat?

Not again! Giant Swedish Christmas goat statue gets torched

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Arsonists set fire early on Wednesday to a giant straw statue of the Swedish Yule goat, a forerunner to Santa Claus in Sweden, defying security measures for a third year in a row.

Police in Gavle, north of Stockholm, said an unknown number of attackers had torched the goat in the early morning hours, leaving a blackened skeleton standing in the town square.

"It's a tradition to burn it down," Lofberg said. "It's happened an untold number of times since the 1960s ... it's been burned down more years than it's survived."

Burning the goat has been a popular, and illegal, tradition in Gavle since the 1960s when an advertising executive first came up with the idea to endow the city with a giant replica of the goat, a Christmas decoration common in many Swedish homes.

There were no witnesses, but a bottle of lighter fluid was found near the goat's frame, which stood about 12 meters tall at the apex of its horns, police told Reuters.

"We have some leads," said Stefan Lofberg, who is leading the investigation for the Gavle police.

Police have tried a range of tactics to stop would-be arsonists, including posting guards near the straw goat, coating it with flame retardant and training security cameras on it.

But vandals have usually found a way around the foils and their assaults have become more elaborate: in recent years the goat has been run over, dragged into a river and attacked by arsonists dressed as Santa Claus and the Ginger Bread Man.

Flame retardant coating thwarted attempts to burn the goat in 2006, but the group sponsoring it then stopped flame-proofing it because of the ugly, brownish tinge its straw took on.

Goats have special meaning in Swedish Christmas tradition. Before Santa Claus became ubiquitous at the turn of the 20th century, men would dress up as goats and hand out presents to well-behaved children. Bad children received lumps of coal.

(Reporting by Nick Vinocur; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Sending Christmas Cards

You are a nostalgic and caring person during the holidays. It's important for you to feel connected to other people this time of the year. You do your best to stay in touch with everyone who is important to you. Even a little note shows you care. Nothing delights you more than getting a card from someone you haven't heard from in a while. That's the true spirit of Christmas for you.

What Part of Christmas Are You?

Bonne année !

Happy New Year!
¡Próspero año nuevo!
새해 복 많이 받아!
Gutes neues Jahr!
Felice anno nuovo!
С наступающим Новым Годом!
Gott nytt år!
An Nou Fericit!
Szczęśliwego nowego roku!
Próspero ano novo!

May 2010 and the new decade bring you lots of fun and happiness!!! I wish you all the very best this year and the years to come! (And merry 8th day of Christmas!)

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Coffee

You are stubborn and tough. You tend to push yourself to the limit. So even if you've been out drinking all night, you aren't going to let it slow you down. A couple cups of coffee and you're good to go. You can push through any hangover. You're perfectly comfortable burning the candle at both ends... as long as you have a candle to burn!

What Hangover Cure Are You?