Tue, December 23, 2008
And Finally... Christmas Special.
Santa school, light spectaculars, and, of course, the Jingle Cats add holiday spirit to this season.
MORE INFO: Chad Ruble presents the best holiday stories from this year's holiday season.
STORY: And Finally, the best of Reuters Oddly Enough. From our special Christmas studio in New York, I'm Chad Ruble. This week, in honor of the holidays, we're presenting the best Christmas stories of the year. We begin in Mexico where residents are ice skating.
Wait a minute! Ice skating in Mexico? Cool! The giant rink is one of the biggest in the world.
But they're not the only ones enjoying a Winter Wonderland. Residents of London, England have been celebrating the holidays at this enormous ice rink in Hyde Park. Oh what fun!
Germans have been getting into the Christmas spirit by decorating their houses with holiday lights.
They've also been a-caroling and riding in reindeer sleighs. To grandmother's house we go!
Meanwhile, this might be over-doing it a bit. It's not a competition, dude.
But I guess the kids like it.
Here's the world's largest floating Christmas tree, bobbing in the water by Rio de Janeiro. It takes twelve hundred people to build the 85 meter high metal "tree" each year. More than a million people are expected to check it out, this year alone.
Commuters at New York's Grand Central Station have been treated to a little holiday light show this month.
The eight-minute multimedia display has been stopping passengers in their tracks, while they enjoy a little holiday color.
And residents of the West Bank have been getting in the Christmas spirit. Churchgoers in the little town of Bethlehem are celebrating the birth of its most famous resident.
How does one become a Santa? Ya go to Santa School. So that's how he gets to so many houses in one day. Santa's been outsourcing. Look! There's hundreds of Santas now! Every year, wannabe Santas attend this school in Germany, learning the ins and outs of taking on the role of Jolly ol' St. Nick. Pay attention. You'll be quizzed on this later.
Woo hoo! Santas at this school get to ride a roller coaster? Awesome! I guess every Santa school has it's own unique curriculum. Lotta girl Santas here. This one comes complete with a graduation ceremony.
Congrats!
How about this Santa school of fish? The swimming Santa entertains the kids at this Japanese aquarium. This Santa's little helper is a Beluga whale. And up the chimney he goes.
And finally on And Finally, it wouldn't be an And Finally Christmas, without the Jingle Cats. Pretty Weird, guys!
Merry Christmas everyone!
