Assault with a deadly Xmas tree

Francheska Terreo was arrested over the weekend for assault with a Christmas tree. The 19 year-old Hartford, Connecticut native got into a fight with her parents before she picked up their family Christmas tree and hurled it at them. She was drunk when the argument broke out. Her father suffered minor injuries from the tree. Terrero also took the phone that her mother was using to call 911 and threw it at her father. She was charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

Saving Xmas

A 45-year-old man recently broke into a North Carolina children's hospice where he stole five video game consoles and various games. Nikki Sixx called Sony, Disney, Activision and Nintendo and had them donate replacements after hearing about the crime. The thief has been arrested

Ugly as sin

'Ugly Christmas Sweaters' have turned out to be this holiday season's hottest fashion statement. According to the Wall Street Journal, Internet searches for "Ugly Christmas sweaters" are up by 30% compared to last year. Many thrift store chains sold out of the sweaters in mid November. Ebay's sales of holiday sweaters are 24% ahead of last year. myuglychristmassweater.com features "hideously ugly" sweaters

Foiled again

The Aluminum Tree & Ornament Museum, in Brevard, North Carolina, features aluminum Christmas trees. Curator Stephen Jackson has 37 aluminum Christmas trees and a set of 40 Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker Christmas ornaments that were purchased at the old Heritage USA. Some of the museum's better trees include one made from Cheetos wrappings and another featuring Elvis. Stephen started his museum after a friend gave him an aluminum Christmas tree made from garbage.

Let 'em eat cake

On Christmas, 90 year-old Morgan Ford, of Tecumseh, Michigan, plans to break out his great-grandmother’s 132 year-old holiday fruitcake. He says, “I have it because the people before me saved it, and it became a keepsake. It’s fossilized and smells of spice." Jay Leno once interviewed Morgan about his cake.

Bad Santa

100 drunk Santas recently caused a disturbance at a Dayton mall. Sgt. Paul Nienhaus says the Santas were part of a social group called 'Santa Con' and were on a pub crawl when they got trashed and began scaring shoppers. Chris Tussey recorded the confrontation between the Santas and the police. He says, "Cops were everywhere. Santa's were running everywhere with their hats. "It was the most craziest thing I've seen. The mall was like a stampede. Everyone was exited, you know trying to get out of there."

Most Annoying Time of the Year

The Washington Post and Gawker.com have placed the following songs on their lists of 'The Most Annoying Christmas Carols of 2010': "Jingle Bells" by Barbra Streisand, "We Need a Little Christmas" by Kathie Lee Gifford, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams, "Blue Christmas" by Elvis, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by John Mellencamp, "The Little Drummer Boy" by Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, "Santa Baby" by Madonna, "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" by Spike Jones, "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" by Elmo & Patsy and "Jingle Bells" by The Barking Dogs.

Pricey Xmas

Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars on Wednesday. It is the "most expensive Christmas tree ever," with a "value of over 11 million dollars," said Hans Olbertz, general manager of Emirates Palace hotel, at its inauguration. The 13-metre (40-foot) faux evergreen, located in the gold leaf-bedecked rotunda of the hotel, is decorated with silver and gold bows, ball-shaped ornaments and small white lights. But the necklaces, earrings and other jewellery draped around the tree's branches are what give it a record value. It holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, said Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery. "The tree itself is about 10,000 dollars," Olbertz said. "The jewellery has a value of over 11 million dollars -- I think 11.4, 11.5." This will probably be an entry into the Guinness book of world records, Olbertz said, adding that Emirates Palace planned to contact the organisation about the tree which is to stay until the end of the year. The tree is not the first extravagant offering from Emirates Palace -- The hotel, which bills itself as seven-star, in February introduced a package for a seven-day stay priced at one million dollars. Takers of the package have a private butler and a chauffeur driven Maybach luxury car at their disposal during their stay, as well as a private jet available for trips to other countries in the region. And in May, the hotel opened a gold vending machine, becoming the first place outside Germany to install "gold to go, the world's first gold vending machine," said Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the machine.
Read the full story from Yahoo! HERE

Cost of the holiday

The Faucher Family is making international headlines because their annual Christmas display uses 1 million lights. Their electric bill for the month of December averages around $82,320. HouseLogic estimated the total cost by using the average price per kWh in the Faucher Family's Delaware region. The estimated cost came out to be $686/hour or $82,320 for those bright 30 nights. If the Fauchers use LEDS, their estimate would drop down to $89 hour and $10,680

Holiday Cheer

Some companies are making employees sign release forms before attending their holiday office parties. Bosses say the forms are necessary because of the alcohol being served and the amount of sexual harassment claims that have been filed since 2006. Companies are also making employees sign the forms because they don't want to be responsible for divorces, which occur as a result of drunken escapades. A new ABC survey reveals that drinking too much is the number one regret of women at their office parties.

Sh*t for Xmas.

The Miller Park Zoo, near Bloomington, Illinois, is selling Xmas ornaments made from animal dung. Zoo marketing director Susie Ohley says the dung is clear-coated, painted and then rolled in glitter. “Each one is unique — they are each a work of art.” Each $10 ornament comes with a label of authenticity. Contact: the zoo at (309) 434-2250

Price of Xmas

Scott Lechner is selling $900 Xmas trees out of his NYC streetside kiosk. He says he has sold 40 of the Blue Mountain, North Carolina trees. "A regular tree is beautiful, but one of our jumbos is majestic. It's not just a tree, it's an experience." hardware stores are selling trees for $35.

Filthy Xmas

Stone Sour's Corey Taylor has recorded a Christmas song. He Tweeted: “By the way everyone - I recorded a filthy Christmas song. Heheheheheheh… You have been warned…”

Merry Xmas... love Scott

Scott Weiland says he is recording a Christmas CD that will feature "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", a reggae version of "Little Drummer Boy" and other classics. He says, "It'll be very traditional - strings, upright bass, jazz horns , piano, and guitar. I'm sort of picking various versions of these songs... my favorite versions, with a little twist."

Xmas comes (too) early!

Target plans to kick off the Christmas shopping season with a one-day sale on Friday (tomorrow). They'll be selling Phillips Blu-Ray players for $99.99. The 24-hour sale, which starts at 3 a.m. Eastern time, will not be advertised in Target stores. Toys R' Us and Sears are also going online with pre-Christmas sales. Toys R' Us is having a Cyber Monday sale on July 26th.

Sears also plans to play Christmas music in their stores through Sunday. Many other stores won't be playing Christmas music because research shows consumers don't want to hear the holiday songs until at least mid October. Studies show 40% of holiday shoppers make up their mind about big ticket purchases in early fall.

No Santa?

Metallica's James Hetfield says his brother ruined Christmas for him. "The worst Christmas was discovering that there was no Santa. You know, I had gotten up at whatever, one in the morning and walked out and saw my brothers carrying presents down to put under the tree, and I was like, 'What are you doing?' And so that was, the St. Nick bubble was burst."

Santa U

Graduates from the Charles W. Howard Santa School have descended upon malls all across America. The Michigan school teaches students about the history of Santa and personal hygiene. Director Tom Valent says, "Santa is a pure man; he's a pure spirit. You never use off-color jokes or flirt or anything like that. You have to be very careful where we touch the children, how we pick them up, how we set them on our knees. Keep your hands up on top visible. We don't want any Santas getting a bad rap." There are also classes for singing, story telling and Santa dancing.

Holiday Pornaments

Spencer's Gifts is under fire for selling X-rated holiday ornaments called 'Pornaments'. One ornament features two reindeer in a compromising position while another shows two snowmen engaged in a sexual act. Each Pornament costs $10 and comes with a label that reads: "for adults only."