It’s Friday, Dec. 15.

Hey folks, it’s Amie, and the holiday season is rolling right along.

Tomorrow begins the tradition (among mostly Latin American Catholics) of Las Posadas!

Yes, this says “today,” so just make sure you don’t read/share this until Saturday.

Celebrations can start off solemn, by reciting or singing the posada litany, but parties afterwards include food, piñatas with seven spikes (to represent the seven deadly sins), aguinaldo or bolo (little candy bags), ponche Navideño (Mexican Christmas fruit punch), tamales, and singing.

Check out a Las Posadas event near you here.

I’ll admit to not knowing anything about Las Posadas (a more than 400-year tradition in Mexico!) before this year. A source brought it up to me in passing, piquing my interest and spurring my search for Iowa festivities.

It’s exactly what I love about my job—discovering, learning more, and sharing what I’ve learned with others who might also be unaware. As we head into the last weeks of 2023, I’m grateful I get to keep doing it all, hopeful I’ll keep learning in 2024, and thankful for all of you for following along!

What movie do you absolutely need to watch to get into the holiday spirit?

For me, nothing does it better than “Home Alone.” My wife’s a sucker for “A Christmas Story.” And my editor Lisa thinks both of those are “stressful” and votes for “Love, Actually.”

What about you?

Trump claims school boards are doing…

what?! ✝️

We’re guessing someone told him to mention Catholics in his speech, because we otherwise have no clue why he said this:

Former President Donald Trump—without any proof—accused school boards of “violently and viciously” attacking Catholics during a Wednesday rally in Coralville.

“I don’t know what it is with Catholics. They are going violently and viciously after Catholics—they are going after Christians—but they are going after Catholics at a level that nobody quite understands,” Trump said.

Was that the weirdest thing Trump said at his rally this week? Haha, of course not.

Chewbacca is in his relaxation and lounging era. He’s got a condition that doesn’t shorten his lifespan, but is sensitive to too much activity—so he’s looking for a calm, quiet home with grownups. If you’ve got space in your life for a relaxation companion, check him out at the Cedar Valley Humane Society.

Gracie’s in the market for a family who can keep her active and satisfy her need to play. And when she’s done, she’s hoping for snuggle buddies. She gets along great with other dogs, too. Check her out at the Cedar Valley Humane Society.

The Satanic Temple of Iowa is never not trolling Christian nationalists. This year, that meant putting up the group’s first-ever Christmastime display inside the Iowa Capitol, which resulted in a predictably pearl-clutching uproar. (We’re just not going to mention Satan and Santa are anagrams?….)

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