holiday news of the weird (or at least unlikely)

I can just feel it, can't you?

Somewhere the fact that the a Branson Board of Aldermen has a proposed a resolution expressing its support for celebrating Christmas, or rather "Ozark Mountain Christmas" --though shouldn't that holiday be spelled with a K?--is morphing into an e-mail to be forwarded by people who forward such things, people who favor CAPITALS and color and exclamations! and baby Jesus for sure. That's my bet, anyway, that some two-fingered typist will make this into a law to protect Christmas and not the bottom line, and thus either a sign of Armageddon or Missouri as the promised land.

Apparently there's some concern that Branson may not have enough Christmas decorations to appease the post-Thanksgiving pilgrims. Now, I've never been there and I'm not going, no matter how many time-shares my in-laws buy (current total: two), but I find that fairly hilarious. Not enough Christmas in Branson, when I can't get through the grocery store here in the suburban prairie without being assaulted with mandatory festivity? I just find that hard to believe. But, if it's true, well, all is not lost on the holiday slogan front. There's another one out there. A classic. The original, in fact: peace on earth. Heck, if that could possibly describe Branson, the hillbilly Vegas outlet mall wonderland, I might even come!