Saturday, November 27, 2004

A heartwarming tale about true Christmas Spirit.

Well, actually, this is about the opposite of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards your fellow man." It's about gaudy excess. It's about pettiness. It's about spitting in the face of the reason for the season.

It seems that in one of the suburbs of San Jose, California, there has been a dispute about Christmas decorations. For six years, people have come from far and wide to enjoy the Yuletide artistic stylings of Alan and Bonnie Aerts.

Some of the other denizens of this particular cul-de-sac were less than impressed with the grandeur of the Aerts family's Christmas displays, and presented a petition with 90 signatures to their elected officials, asking that the purveyors of such "oppressive" and "Disneyesque" displays obtain a permit.

In response, Mr. Aerts commissioned a 10-foot tall, motorized Grinch statue at a cost of $2500. The Grinch now stands on his lawn, pointing a finger at the neighbours who initiated the complaint, and belting out "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch."

Somehow, I don't think Our Lord and Saviour would be very happy about this. It's not a very nice birthday present for Him.

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