Michael Gambon was brilliant with his Scrooge like character, especially in early scenes. I would have liked him to have been more Scrooge like though. When Steven Moffat took over masterminding Doctor Who , he said his vision of the show was more akin to a fairy tale. For my money, tonight’s Christmas special was the closest he’s ever come to achieving that goal.

But if you can handle one more wrinkle on the Charles Dickens classic, BBC America has a treat tomorrow, as it premieres “Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol” on Christmas Day – the same day Britons will be seeing it for the first time. I would have liked to have had more Rory and Amy and I wasn’t fond of Katherine Jenkins singing. I know it’s Christmas but what next? A cup of tea with the Cybermen? There’s a certain poetry in a good fairy tale — more than just a story about creatures or people, a good fairy tale says something about the way life is. Spa day with the Daleks? And, let’s face it, there aren’t many retellings of “A Christmas Carol” that manage to work in Marilyn Monroe. There are choices, and riddles, and lessons, and mistakes.

It was the best birthday present I could have asked for!” Viewers will also hear her Katherine sing in the show, Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol, which is broadcast today on BBC One. A good fairy tale has a good dose of nastiness as well as a strong, concentrated dose of the stuff all stories are made of. I won’t spoil anything else.

Like anything poetic, a fairy tale needs to be true as well as a myth. It’s a good word!) on a far-off planet with a deadly cloud layer. And he won’t let a spaceship containing 4,000 people — including the Doctor’s companions Amy and Rory — land safely through the cloud layer because there’s nothing in it for him. It’s such a barmy idea, it transcends the mechanics of time-travel and mind-wiping, and becomes actually poetic. Abigail’s really more of a device in the story than a character, in many ways — the only time she really expresses a desire is when she wants to spend Christmas Eve with her own family, instead of cavorting off to other worlds and historical periods with the Doctor and Kazran. And her story doesn’t really make tons of sense if you think about it too much. (Why does the Doctor notice the countdown thingy? Why is there a countdown thingy in the first place, since the purpose of the freezing coffin is just to keep her suspended until her family can pay the loan? So then he decides to make sure Kazran gets to know Abigail when he’s younger and more impressionable, and then has to lose her when she dies after the countdown runs out. (The Doctor even remarks something about her having a lot of doctors, but then lets it slide instead of delving.) The Doctor wants to teach Kazran a lesson — and he’s using Abigail just as much as Kazran’s dad was, when he put her into suspended animation in the first place. (Although the Doctor certainly acts like he doesn’t know what’s going on, when Kazran tells him he doesn’t want to see him again. He’s realizing just how cruel he’s been to Kazran, to get him to change his mind about releasing Amy’s ship from the cloud layer. (Of course, that would still be true if the Doctor had only been inadvertently cruel, without realizing what he was doing.) Michael Gambon gets some amazing material as Kazran, and he makes the most of it — as I said in my preview post, I’m reminded of his incredible turn in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover . The Shark could have been a bit more of a threat also but that was all I really had to complain about. The way Matt Smith spoke “I’m the ghost of Christmas past” made it my favourite moment of the episode.

And when the shark swam into the young Kazran’s room – it must have looked amazing in Moffat’s head before it made its way onto paper; even after it had been computer generated in such a way that it wouldn’t terrify young children for months, it still looked good. And Katherine Jenkins as a young beauty slumbering like Snow White in a tomb of ice, terrific. I know it’s Christmas but what next? Oh, and Harry Potter ‘s Michael Gambon makes a wonderfully mean, broken-hearted, un-Dumbledore-y, Scrooge-ish villain. Sign up for Geekosystem’s daily newsletter. Instead, we found ourselves on the road to the giant Cyberking stomping all over London. “I wasn’t sure I could do it but after reading for the part, I got a call on my 30th birthday to say I’d got it. A Christmas Carol is so audacious that if it wasn’t done so well it might amount to blasphemy. I won’t spoil anything else. Finding the obvious parallels irresistible, the Doctor decides to use the Tardis to play out his old mucker Dickens’ most famous story. Except to say Marilyn Monroe figures into this, too. And that, basically, is it. Moffat scripts are always ingenious, but A Christmas Carol is a remarkably small-scale caper.

Arthur Darville is just… there. And while we don’t want to belittle the lives of 4004 people, the stakes are remarkably low – no threat of enslavement of a population, no nuclear Armageddon circling the Earth, no madmen flirting with the end of reality. A Christmas Carol riffs magnificently and faithfully on the beauty and simplicity of its source material. I can’t wait to watch it again. There’s a wonderful peasants’ Christmas dinner where the Doctor proves himself hopeless at card tricks. “Do you know, in 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.” The stunt casting sirens were sounded when Katherine Jenkins was announced as Abigail in her acting debut. But the whole thing would have failed if the love story wasn’t credible. And the final payoff, as the mended Kazran admitted that it was now finally time for Christmas Day, was as effective a climax as the showy ones of the past. Spa day with the Daleks?

It was clear that Moffat had his tongue at least partly in cheek, and some of the advance images from the new series look set to give a whole new generation of viewers their first taste of the creeps, but that’s enough “Christmassy” for now.

The faithful have been looking forward to December 25th, to celebrate what is believed to be the birthday of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem 2010 years ago. Others will come together Saturday, Christmas Day, for morning and daytime services. The angel in me urged me to write something nice today about Christmas traditions. BECKLEY — I must confess, I love everything about Christmas, the decorated tree, the lights, the music, and the gifts. However, most Scripture scholars consider him the greatest of the early prophets, a line of God’s chosen ones, foretelling the coming of the Messiah, culminating with the last prophet, John the Baptist. A time to remember the spirit of giving.

It really is my favorite holiday. An exhausting and stressful exercise of shopping, tree lighting, decorating and reconnecting with family and friends. I also have to admit that I really am somewhat of a newbie when it comes to Christmas. Of course, there’s a room available. We may be celebrating Christ’s birth on the wrong day or even wrong month. I’ve only been celebrating 20 years or so. Some can’t wait for it. On the other hand, the Assyrians were on the march threatening all three. “That’ll be $58.93, including sales tax, amusement tax and hotel tax,” says the college student clerking to pay for his classes. As a young boy, I remember seeing the excitement and joy of children playing with their new toys. To persuade the king to have firm faith in God, Isaiah gives him a sign: a virgin will bear a son who will be named Emmanuel, a name which means “God is with us.” In other words, despite the impending foreign invasions, the child will be a sign that God would ultimately intervene to save His people. My dad was quick to lecture me that their happiness was concocted. Follow up to this one will be the issue of Jesus’ virgin birth that has also come up lately.

Grasping the meaning of Christmas does not mean suspending intellect. In the 17th century, the Puritan-led Parliament of England went so far as to ban Christmas celebrations, calling holiday gatherings a pagan activity.

Meanwhile, in 1870, the United States declared Christmas a federal holiday, much to the ongoing chagrin of civil liberties groups who consider that designation, as well as municipality-sponsored Christmas decorations, a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of a religion by the government. Room is on the second floor. That all changed when I met the real Christ, and for the past few years we have been. catching up on the joy and fun we missed. We all know he was not born on 25th December, and neither do we know the exact date or day he was born. Campbell, rector of St. Joseph Cathedral. Father Paul Seil, host of “Our Daily Bread,” offers a traditional Italian meatless recipe served on Christmas Eve.

As Christian leaders highlighted the plight of believers facing the threat of attacks around the world, a bomb in a church during Christmas mass in the southern Philippines wounded six people, including the priest. “The explosion occurred at around 7:15 in the morning while the mass was going on. Convinced with the philosophy, chancellor, Catholic Diocese of Lucknow Donald HR DeSouza said, “Christmas is an event that is related to life of most.” Talking to reporters on the eve of Christmas, he added that the feast of Christmas is a call that reminds us not to forget that each time when we close our eyes towards injustice for the sake of our own comforts, we contribute to accelerate the downfall of the values of Jesus Christ: justice, kindness, compassion, mercy, peace and goodness. No one was hurt in the incident, but in the central Nigerian city of Jos the same day, an explosion killed at least eight people and wounded another eight, police said. Gregory Yenlong, the information commissioner of Plateau State, of which Jos is the capital, said there had been rumours of attacks aimed at disrupting Christmas celebrations in recent days. This is the message of him who was born a babe on a cold wintry night in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem. He never goes to church or tells the Nativity story to the little ones. When the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Bethlehem, a metal gate in the 20-foot-high concrete wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem opened to let the cars through.

‘This dialogue is imperative,’ he said. But he urged the people of the city not to forget those who are not so blessed. Its highest moment of glory was the turn of the millennium, when tens of thousands of people gathered there to celebrate that very special time that comes only once every 1,000 years. “Most atheists I know celebrate in some way. However, when the peace process that was supposed to emancipate the Palestinian people from the long Israeli occupation broke down, trouble engulfed the entire West Bank, and Bethlehem’s share was not lesser that any of its sister cities. The ongoing lull in violence has given a huge boost to Bethlehem’s economy – hotels are booked out and more are already being built to cope with future demand. Iraqi Christians have been the target of repeated bloody attacks, including a raid on a Baghdad church that killed 44 worshippers and two priests on October 31. There are no statistics to prove whether LifeWay’s snapshot of Christmas 2010 is part of a trend or a moment unique for its secular spin. Border crossings and security restrictions have been eased to maximise freedom of worship. “Do not fear that is the message today,” Father Saad Sirop Hanna, the head priest at the Chaldean Catholic church, told his congregation. The siege went on for five weeks.

In August 2010, Israel allowed tour guides to lead groups in Bethlehem to promote coexistence. In Britain, the leader of the world’s Anglicans urged people to remember those across the globe who face persecution because of their Christian faith, in his Christmas Day sermon, extracts of which were released early Saturday. The sense of Christmas cheer was being sorely tested in parts of Europe where freezing temperatures have caused transport chaos, with thousands of travellers forced to spend the night in trains or barracks, on ferries or in airports as the snow piled up.

Two years ago, Coldplay’s Chris Martin stood at his piano and played for CBS News’ 60 Minutes the beginnings of a song he’d written the night before. It was a nascent glimpse of what would become the newly released “Christmas Lights.” It was initially published on 60 Minutes Overtime, a webshow that…

Original

I’ve been searching the web for weeks now trying to find a sheet music version of Christmas Lights by Coldplay for the piano. With no luck so far, I finally tried piano-sheets.net and BAM, instantly, there it was on the front page. Christmas Lights is a pretty simple song, for me at least, but some of you might have trouble learning to play Christmas Lights by Coldplay on the piano. Start slow, maybe with the chorus, and practice, practice, practice!

I have to tell you that my brother was visiting me a few days ago. That part’s boring. He enjoys playing the piano. I asked him if he knew how to play Christmas Lights. Christmas Lights by Coldplay is not too difficult. He started to improvise, then suggested that I download and print a music sheet. After I did a little snooping around OI discovered Christmas Lights had just been added at Piano-Sheets!

get free sheet music for Christmas Lights by Coldplay
“Thoughts that bring about good feelings mean you are on the right track. Thoughts that bring about bad feelings means you are not on the right track.”

“Glee,” where plot consistency goes to die, wrapped up the first half of the season with one of its more nonsensical episodes, once again trying gamely to wrap a storyline around songs that will be sold on iTunes and in an album. This should have been easy this week, given that the tunes all had a Christmas theme but, turns out, not so much. The holidays are here … and so is ‘Last Christmas’ Comment Recommend In the last few years, Wham! ‘s Last Christmas has somehow transformed from a jokey ’80s tune into a bona fide holiday staple. The songs were mostly standards (a notable exception involved — wait for it — a k.d. lang guest vocal), and the episode felt rather standard itself, with a mix of oddball and heartstring-tugging scenes. But before we go asking Santa for the show to come back as soon as possible, let’s look back at “A Very Glee Christmas.” New Directions certainly started things off in the Christmas spirit. Through some slight of hand, Sue managed to put only her name into the hat for the teachers’ secret Santa exchange, so that all the gifts were for her. Here’s how it broke down. When the teachers discovered they’d all bought items for Sue, she smiled smugly, greedily tallied up her goodies and said, “I hate Christmas, but I love presents.” Mr. Schuester, Emma and Coach Beiste eventually led the charge to take back Sue’s ill-gotten goodies and give them to homeless kids. The forever track-suited cheerleading coach does not enjoy holidays in which the main themes are “cheer” and “joy” and “giving to others.” So Sue rigs the McKinley High School staff’s Secret Santa program, and all the staffers draw a slip of paper with her name on it. Mike and Brittany break out their dance moves, and it looks and sounds like a scene out of a Christmas movie (or department store commercial) — but not for long, because Ryan Murphy loves his ironic subtexts. And how to explain the bizarre actions of our favorite villian, Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch)?

And while he does remind his fellow glee clubbers to keep their own spirits up, he can’t find it in his heart to forgive Rachel. Then she’s melting at least a little and helping single and lonely Will (Matthew Morrison ) celebrate the holiday.  It felt a tad contrived, but I suppose I sound Grinch-y for pointing that out. The most wonderful day of the year, this isn’t. Anyway, Sue-as-Grinch also steals the presents from under the tree that were intended for homeless kids of course she does! After all, since when is “Glee” not a tad contrived?

On the plus side, the holiday numbers were fun, and well-chosen. It’s hard to tackle the holidays and make it feel fresh; I think that’s just a problem that goes with the territory. In true Rachel style, she gives him a gift that entitles the recipient to one song of her choosing — and manages to keep it together when he refuses. “I thought you might want to put all of us out of our misery and shave off that Chia Pet,” she suggested, before wishing him a heartfelt merry Christmas.

And this episode will have to see us Gleeks through to February there won’t be a new episode until then, when “Glee” airs a special episode in the coveted post-Super Bowl spot.  And the idea of this show, of all shows with its bullying football players as bad guys and show-choir members as hapless heroes following the testosterone-a-thon Super Bowl just makes me smile.  Cannot wait!  – Kristi Turnquist All that being said, I still laughed and yes even cried at this hour.

But it is so creepy. Anyway, Coach Beiste does that little thing and Brittany is crushed to learn Santa may not be magical after all.

Therefore, with a hat-tip to our dear friend @marcmalkin , we today launch a new hashtag campaign on Facebook and Twitter:  #kurtblaineKISSalready . Do your part, won’t you?  So what other characters are singing love songs this Christmas? ” A Very Glee Christmas ” will air next Tuesday on Fox. The holiday episode of Glee is set to air on December 7, but we’ve got some early Glee gifts for you to unwrap, thanks to these new show clips. The countdown has begun, the holidays are upon us! So, Gleeks, do you want Finn and Rachel back together, or do you think they need a break for a while? I had to stay and film scenes with the Warblers. Tell us: Do you like their versions of these classics? Are you hoping for a Kaine kiss under the mistletoe, or are you of the opinion they should take it slow? Share your wish list for  ”A Very  Glee  Christmas,” and if you’re good, maybe Santa Claus will bring you what you’re hoping for!

But Hanukkah gained a much more prominent status in the U.S. after a couple of reform Rabbis decided to make it a little more Christmas-like in the late 19th century. Dianne Ashton, professor of American Studies at Rowan University in New Jersey, says the religious culture of the U.S. began to change after the Civil War. Not all of which set well with the Jewish community. Ashton, who is writing a book about the history of Hanukkah in America, says this paved the way for the rising middle class to display their wealth. “And so customs for Christmas became wrapped in this garb, and you get Christmas presents under Christmas trees,” Ashton says. In recognition of the holiday, elementary school children are running a toy drive and older children organized a clothing drive to benefit Rosie’s Place in Boston and Project Hope in Dorchester, said spokesman Mike Rosenberg. “Even within the celebration, there’s a range of community action projects in line with Jewish teachings,” he said. The last night of Hanukkah is Dec. 9. “Hanukkah has always been a part of the American celebration,” Goldfarb said. Hanukkah began to change again between 1880 and 1920 when more than two million Jewish immigrants came to the U.S. from Eastern Europe. One brother wore a plastic guard costume, complete with helmet, chest plate and mini-sword, to play the role of a Greek soldier. The family also gathers on one day and decides as a group on a charity to whom they’ll make a donation. This is one of the few festivals that are not noted in the Torah.

For tickets, call 626-445-0810. The shamash, or the servant candle that kindles the other lights, should be either elevated or placed apart from the other candles. “This has been a family tradition throughout the whole family. “Every year, we look at the theme of Hanukkah – dedication and rededicating – with a renewed awareness of what Hanukkah is really about and our need to dedicate ourselves to community, to each other and to our family members,” said Jason Moss, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys. As the U.S. middle class blossomed and Christmas retail boomed, Jewish immigrants and their children became more immersed in the American culture and Hanukkah emerged as a big holiday. The candle must be lit before sunset and must remain lit until the regular time, 30 minutes after nightfall, but because inexpensive Hanukkah candles do not burn long enough, longer candles, traditional oil lamps or tea lights may be used. During Hanukkah, families sit down for a meal that includes dishes such as potato latkes or pancakes and sufganiot doughnuts, which are cooked in oil because of the great significance of oil in the story of the Hanukkah miracle.

It is also customary to play a game with a spinning top called a dreidel and for children to receive money, chocolate coins and other gifts from their parents. Hopkins said, “There were always get togethers as far as family was concerned. “The story about Hanukkah is about light,” said Rabbi Alan Lachtman of Temple Beth David. “It became an occasion for them to do activities in the US that they really couldn’t do freely,” she says. “They had concerts in public halls and restaurants had Hanukkah specials.” Ashton says there were even kosher restaurants serving turkey dinners at Hanukkah, another American custom.

Let’s talk ‘Mad Men’: It’s Christmas in August! What did you think of the episode? One of the things that I’ve been worried about with this season 4 reboot of ‘Mad Men’ was that Matt Weiner was going to take the audience away from the goings on at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce too much in order to examine the goings on with Don’s family. What’s in the cards for Peggy’s relationship? Christmas 1964 came to Mad Men this episode, and with it, several old friends showed up. While the divorce is bringing out the worst in the respective parties (really, Betty, with the politicians wife hair?), its effect on Sally is wonderful- speeding her edge into rebellious adolescence, singling her out as the big sister (and Santa myth propagator), and most importantly, causing her to realize just how shrill her mother really is. There was creepy neighbor kid Glen (Marten Weiner, son of creator Matthew Weiner), who materialized as a love interest for, or at least someone with a love interest in, Sally. As a step to move into the new wave of advertising, the team behind Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce enlists the help of a consumer evaluation company.

Dons not buying it, and wont waste his time filling out the survey and airing his familial grievances on paper. Enter Glenn, fellow child of divorce and a kid who’s going to be nothing but trouble, as we found out in episode 2, ‘Christmas Comes But Once. But damn this episode left me with a great catch in my throat. And there was Don Draper, skirt-chasing cad, whom we remember from way back, though he seemed to have lost a step in the season premiere. Glenn knows what a bitch being a child of divorce can be. Which is why little Sally is starting to fall for him. When he does finally drag his drunk ass home to his apartment, he’s anesthetized himself to the point where he can’t make his keys fit.

His dreary late night returns spark some compassion in the pretty neighbor down the hall, who helps him to bed without letting him help himself to her. They delve into a Ponds campaign, which proves difficult for both of them to see eye-to-eye. Thus he initially responds coldly to his neighbor Phoebe, the St. Vincent’s nurse, upon meeting her in the hallway, but—when she puts him to bed drunk and takes off his shoes—he’s suddenly aroused and makes a pass at her. Receptive, that is, in a way that would not pass the standards of a 2010 HR department—however she feels about him, he’s still her boss—and receptive after an initial hesitation, for reasons we have to infer. Her boyfriend (Carl from LOST ,) is ready to be intimate, and in a perhaps veiled attempt to shed her somewhat checkered sexual past, Peggy pretends to be a virgin, one reluctant to give up her chastity, though ultimately she gives in.

NEXT: The return of Glen. She’s already resentful of Betty, and probably wishes Henry would just go away so her dad Done will come back. Seemingly aware of just how important his business remains to the weak firm, Garner emasculates Roger Sterling into playing Santa, and offering an accommodating lap to guests and employees. But the difference between Sally and Glenn is that, well, Sally isn’t a budding juvenile delinquent. He won’t respect you.” Which he follows up with an awkward, and equally paleolithic, warning about the dangers of blue balls. (“That is physically very uncomfortable. Is there a worse job in Manhattan than being employed as Don’s secretary? Let’s try this Sunday look for a Mad Men post on the blog Aug. 8 at 11 p.m.