Speaker 1: Caalaroga Shark Media. Right there, I'm Johnny Mack with five
good news Christmas stories. Operation Evergreen is preparing to send
dozens of Ohio grown Christmas trees to US service members
stationed overseas. The programs now and it's thirtieth year. It's
a partnership between the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the
Ohio Christmas Tree Association. This year, around fifty trees will
be shipped to military personnel serving in Kuwait. Brian is
the director of the whole thing. He says, sending a
piece of home overseas lets our servicemen and women know
they're in our thoughts. We hope these Christmas trees and
wishes of appreciation bring joy and cheer this holiday season.
Tree growers from across the state donate the evergreens. They're
inspected for pests and disease before being wrapped and sent overseas.
The ornaments are created and donated by local schools, churches,
and veterans groups. Let's take a look at some traditions
around the world. In Wales, one of the countries oldest
customs is the merry Luid. I hope I pronounced that right,
and I probably didn't anyway. It is a decorated horse
skull mounted on a pole and carried by a group
of performers. The horse skull carriers go door to door,
singing and engaging residents in rhyming exchanges before being invited
in for refreshments. The practice actually predates Christianity. In Caracas, Venezuela,
Christmas morning begins with families traveling to mass on roller skates.
You didn't think I was going to say roller skates. Yeah,
streets are close to traffic, so people can roller skates
safely through the city, creating a festive atmosphere filled with
music and crowds and roller skates. That's a lot of fun.
In Japan, families marked the holiday with a meal from
Kentucky Fried Chicken. You know, not the worst idea. That
tradition began with a marketing campaign in the nineteen seventies,
and it's stuck around Salving, California. They're getting ready for Christmas.
I was just there. It is a cute little town
known for its Danish heritage. It's about two hours north
of la maybe a little less than that. The whole
town has this Denmark theme. It's like you just magically
woke up in Europe and each December it transforms into
a European style Christmas village. If you'd like to know
more about Solvng, specifically, our podcast Travel is Back. I
recently dropped an episode about Solvang, so you can hear
my experiences there. I had a great time. Founded in
the early nineteen hundreds by immigrants from Denmark, Solvang is
the home of places like Olson's Danish Village Bakery and
Mortensen's Danish Bakery. Nutcrackers fill store windows, and that was
true in like October when I went and families can
take holiday photos in Hans Christian Anderson Park and I
was there and it was live music there. Anna is
a spokesperson for Solvang and says Solvang is the destination
for people that really want that European Christmas vibe. It's
one of the couple times of the year where the
village is most magical. It's like this escaped to another country,
but you're still in SoCal Jewel Fest goes all the
way into early January with the annual Christmas tree burn
that's of course overseen by the Santa Barbara County Fire department.
It's an unofficial goodbye to the holiday season for locals
and visitors. Really cool town. You should go there at
least once. Brian May you know him from the band Queen.
He has a new Christmas song. This one is called
Praise Your Name, recorded with longtime collaborator Talia Dean and
the award winning Saint Anne's Catholic High School for Girls
Gospel Choir. On social media, Brian said, only the most
epic Christmas track ever. All Right, my wife is upstairs.
She's just been watching Christmas movies for about three weeks now.
Just out yesterday, a royal date for Christmas. That's right.
A European duke arrives in the US, but his bags
get lost in transit. As a result, he meets Bella,
who owns a boutique because that's how Christmas movies go,
and that gives him a royal makeover. You'll find that
on Great American Family. How about a Sprinkle of Christmas?
You see there's Libby the Baker. She finally opens the
bakery of her dreams in time for Christmas. However, she
gets into a feud with an actor who gave her
business a bad review. I wonder what'll happen there. That
one's on Real One. How About a Vineyard Christmas? Heather,
who I think is a podcast host in this one,
tries to create a Christmas episode by featuring a winery.
The problem the owner of the winery, Rooty, may be attractive,
but he gets in her way a little bit too much.
That's also on Real One. I wonder if they'll get
together in the end. How about Becoming Santa from twenty
fifteen that follows Nick, a man who has completely lost
his Christmas spirit. To get it back, he becomes Santa
for the holiday season. That's on Lifetime. Christmas Casanova sees
another podcaster, what is going on? How come I don't
have a Christmas movie? This is about a lease? She
tries to spice up her Christmas content by doing extra
episodes on Sunday? Is that what she's doing by helping
Daniel fine love. However, things start to back fire when
she realizes he's chasing the wrong person. I wonder who
the right person is? Huh? Alise? That one's on Real One.
And those are your five good News Christmas stories for today.
Ho Ho Ho