Christmas

Throughout Iraq, U.S. military personnel were served special Christmas Eve meals Wednesday, and many gathered for church services. Personnel accustomed to barking orders did their best on traditional hymns and Christmas songs. At the Al Asad base, Capt. Brian O'Shea said, "Christmas Mass will remind us what we all ultimately hope for: peace." At midnight Mass, Catholic chaplain Paul Shaughnessy said, "I know for a lot of you, it's the second or third Christmas here in Iraq.

Jody Miller is doing her best. The only tree she could squeeze into the temporary apartment she is sharing with her husband this Christmas was too tiny to decorate. So she strung up lights above the fireplace, pinned stockings to the front door and lined up three glowing reindeer on the patio wall. It feels festive. But Christmas won't be the same without all the couple's friends and neighbors from the Oakridge Mobile Home Park.

The latest winter storm to hit Southern California is expected to dump 1 to 3 inches of rain today in coastal and valley areas and up to 5 inches of precipitation in the mountains. "This storm is out of the Pacific Northwest," said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "It was up around San Francisco and is gradually moving toward us," he said. "We'll probably see some showers out ahead of it, but the brunt of it will be on Christmas Day."

Wearing flowing robes and thorny crowns, about 400 churchgoers honored a promise to their pastor that they'd dress like Jesus to remind people of Christmas' roots. Members of Praise Chapel Christian Fellowship began dressing that way last week at jobs, shopping malls and restaurants. The demonstration wrapped up Wednesday. "I know it's a crazy idea," said the Rev. Kelly Lohrke, whose 600 members attend services in Kansas City, Kan., and nearby Lee's Summit, Mo. "I know it's a radical idea.

President Bush spent Christmas at Camp David, the 12th time he and his family celebrated the holiday at the Maryland presidential retreat. Bush's parents -- former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara -- and the president's siblings and their families were also at Camp David, as were the president's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, and Jenna's husband, Henry Hager, the White House said Wednesday.

Retail sales declined the most since February 2003 last week, a sign that steeper markdowns before and after Christmas failed to salvage what may be the worst holiday shopping season in four decades. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.8% in the seven days through Dec. 27, the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Tuesday.

The presents have been unwrapped, the tree taken down. And Santa still hasn't brought you that Wii. Don't worry. You are not alone. Despite the economic gloom and doom that hampered this Christmas shopping season, a few products rose above the recession and flew off the shelves faster than eight magical reindeer. Gifts such as Nintendo Co.'s Wii, Amazon.com Inc.'

In the Western branch of Christianity generally, Epiphany commemorates the visit of the three wise men from the East, who, "following yonder star," as a hymn says, traversed afar to see baby Jesus and to show their adoration with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. In some Spanish-speaking countries, Jan. 6 is known as El Dia de los Reyes, or the Day of the Kings.

Three newly elected school board members in southern Orange County want to rename the two-week winter vacation the "Christmas" recess. Ellen Addonizio, Anna Bryson and Larry Christensen, who were elected to the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees in November, say they are not pushing religion into public schools, but are honoring the federal holiday that falls on Dec. 25. "Traditionally, it was always called that," Christensen said. "It's what it is: Christmas break."