Christmas

Thieves Stealing UPS Packages: Five Things They Won't Want When They Open Them

According to a report from KHOU, neighbors in midtown caught two men stealing UPS packages and called police, who arrested them. By the looks of the video -- and knowing the area -- these were probably homeless men looking for something they could pawn. Given the time of year, it's not uncommon to h ... More >>

Layered Cakes: Not Exactly a Piece of Cake

This Christmas I took on a task I have never attempted before. That task was making a layered cake. Four layers of chocolate cake with two layers of a cream and ganache between each cake round. Why would I take on such a daunting project, you ask? Well, I have a problem. I see a recipe and if it lo ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: Panto Mother Goose, Sanders Family Christmas, The Santaland Diaries, The White Christmas Album: A Beatles Holiday

Metal Swingset on Southwest Freeway Turns into Fatal Accident

In what has to be one of the most bizarre and unfortunate incidents on Houston highways this holiday season, the driver of a car is dead after being struck from behind by another vehicle on the Southwest Freeway the day after Christmas. The culprit: a metal swingset sitting in the middle of the road ... More >>

An Inside Look at Randall's Grocery Carts on Christmas Day

Upon opening my eyes on Christmas day, the first thought to run through my head was not Santa, or presents, or family. It was "I am so hungry." Followed immediately by "Oh my gosh all the grocery stores are closed what am I going to do do I have enough milk to get me through the day and what about d ... More >>

Christmas Past: Our 5 Favorite Punk Rock Christmas Songs

While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared December 11, 2009. Aside from the heavy metal Christmas songs we threw your way earlier this week, ... More >>

Texans-Vikings: New BATTLE-DRINK Bingo Drinking Game Card, Egg Nog Edition

Well, this week's game card should be the final Battle-Drink Bingo card of the 2012 season. Assuming the Texans win this Sunday against the Vikings, that means the final game against the Colts would hold no meaning (possibly for either team), so cobbling together a Battle-Drink centered around the e ... More >>

The Five Best Houston Neighborhoods for Viewing Christmas Lights

I'll admit I'm a sucker for a good Christmas lights display. When my parents were not terribly interesting in stringing lights from the house, I made plans. I used graph paper to map out the entire house and figure out what lights would go where. This was a big deal in my world as a kid. Even today, ... More >>

Last Minute Christmas: Ten Gifts Odd Gifts from CVS to Solidify Your Standing as Resident Black Sheep

Every year a whole bunch of you (you know who you are) wait until the last minute to buy Christmas gifts. You scramble and go crazy trying to get everything done just in time to see the disappointed look on the faces of your relatives as your reveal your latest holiday blunder. Let's be honest here. ... More >>

Frustrated by the Recent Heat? Winter Is Making a Comeback

"Rise and shine and don't forget your booties, 'cause it's cold outside," is how the radio deejay woke Bill Murray up in Groundhog Day every morning. And while we won't have a blanket of snow on the ground, sing morning polkas (most of us anyway) or live in Punxsutawney, next week we're going to bre ... More >>

The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs Ever

It's the thought that counts, right? Because they had the common decency to make original garbage, this list pardons holiday atrocities like New Kids on the Block's "Funky Funky Christmas" and "Last Christmas" by Wham! The ten "artists" on this list couldn't even be bothered to wrap their own turds ... More >>

Canned Kindness: The Top 5 Food Gifts in a Jar

Anything that makes things easier around the holidays is always wonderful. So when you're giving gifts to friends and family this year, give them something that will ease their stress by packaging food gifts in a jar. Packaging a recipe in a jar not only reduces the amount of time you'll spend on m ... More >>

Smitten and Barefoot: Our Top 5 Cookbooks for Christmas

I have a confession to make: I am a cookbook-aholic. I absolutely love reading and collecting cookbooks. Sometimes I like to sit in Barnes & Noble and read through all of the new cookbooks displayed in the food section of the store. I love the pictures, I love the author's story behind each recipe ... More >>

So This Is 5 Years of Listening to Sunny 99.1's Christmas?

2008: An Hour in Sunny 99.1's Holiday Hell Every year, Sunny starts playing non-stop, 24/7 Christmas tunes by the end of November. You can pretty much bet that by the time you hop in the car after Thanksgiving dinner that Perry Como will be riding shotgun with you up to the gas station for smokes ... More >>

Gumby Christmas Lights For The Win

Photo by Lee RinerHe's celebrating Christmas, dammit!​Here's something to warm you Christmas heart -- a display of lights in Westbury. It's always difficult to get scale on these lights-at-night pictures, but those white lights on the right are the height of a ranch house. So Gumby is a two-st ... More >>

Hail, Santa: The Top 10 Metal Christmas Carol Covers

​Rocks Off likes to believe that Christmas is such a merry holiday, even some of Satan's most stalwart servants can't help but get into the act. Of course, it could be that heavy metal musicians record Christmas music for the same reason as Mariah Carey: Because there's a crapload of money to ... More >>

Sex and Spacemen: The Weirdest Christmas Songs We Could Find

Photo illustration by John Seaborn GrayI want to believe.​Just the other day, Rocks Off sat at the computer, blank-faced and still, the cursor blinking uninterrupted. See, normally at this time of year, we come up with a list of depressing Christmas songs. This year, though, there was a proble ... More >>

Top 5 Seasonal Booze Gifts

Photo by John Kiely​It can be risky to give a bottle of booze as a gift, as it may not always be to the recipient's tastes. On the other hand, some liquors are easy to re-gift, or better yet, used for holiday parties. Here's five of the more seasonal: 5. Jameson Irish Whiskey This blend is ... More >>

Fa La La La La: Favorite Records Rocks Off Got for Christmas

​No matter what year it is or how old you are, if you love music, there is nothing like finding some new music tucked under the tree or crammed into your stocking. iTunes gift cards are easy. So are gift cards to Tiffany's, but we bet your girl would be a lot more receptive to the blue box. Th ... More >>

Gifts Galore

Wrapping up Houston's holiday shows.

"And A S.W.A.T Team in a Pear Tree": Hip Hop Christmas songs

​Have you grown tired of hearing the same played out Christmas songs on 99.1 yet? Of course you have. Even if you avoid the radio, you hear the music at the grocery store, company holiday parties, even at bars you escape to in order to avoid holiday overcheer. It's almost depressing. Christmas ... More >>

Classic Christmas: The Carpenters' Christmas Portrait

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​In the '70s, there was a smoothness to the music. It was cool and mellow and as sensitive as a bear skin rug and a glass of Burgundy. And nothing epitomized that time ... More >>

All The Gothic Council Wants for Christmas is Its Two Front Fangs... And Monster High Dolls

​"Yo," hollered Ramon Medina at us from his El Camino as we were quietly walking down the street listening to Iggy Pop's Preliminaries. "Is there such a thing as a goth Christmas tree?" Then he laughed and sped away. The answer is yes, Medina, there is a goth Christmas. Every October we put u ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. There are seminal moments in the life of a child and it is not uncommon that some of them involve holidays, Christmas in particular. There's a comfort as a child that comes ... More >>

Rainy, Cold Post-Thanksgiving Weekend...in Houston!

There's a saying that if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait. Well, this weekend qualifies, particularly for those of you all hopped up on turkey, Christmas songs and holiday joy as you flit about the area malls and Best Buys scraping and clawing your way to gift-buying bliss. Most peopl ... More >>

26th Annual Uptown Holiday Lighting

The 5 Best Local Beers to Bring to Thanksgiving Dinner

A bite of banana in every beer.​Just in time for Christmas, Buffalo Bayou Brewing hopes to release its first beer to the public: an 11 percent gingerbread Imperial stout that would be the toast of any Christmas dinner. For Thanksgiving, however, there are plenty of locally brewed beers that w ... More >>

Merry Christmas Ukraine!

Muffet​You may be appalled that I am still talking about Christmas. Well, Ukrainian Christmas begins January 6, which is considered Christmas Eve, while Christmas day is then on the 7th, and the whole shebang culminates on January 19th with Epiphany. I was happily curious after being invited ... More >>

Christmas Puppies: Five Great Surprise Videos

Every kid wants a puppy, right? And Santa knows this, correct? So puppies make perfect Christmas gifts. You have to know how to do the presentation, of course. And film it. Here are five great videos of kids' puppy-Christmas wishes coming true: 5. Let's Torture The Kids First Like every parent wh ... More >>

ERASEtheVIRUS Is Full Of Holiday Cheer

Photos by Rhonda Merideth​Until Rocks Off had a small child... strike that. Until Rocks Off watched the Wife With One F have a small child while we hyperventilated in a hospital room, we had a very firm holiday tradition of lying to our families about other engagements and then eating dinner a ... More >>

Blues Christmas

Fiskadoro's Christmas Of The Damned

​Peace on Earth and good will towards men? We'll have none of that happy hippie horseshit here, thank you very much. Listening to Fiskadoro is like the cuddle session after a brutal orgy, and we do love every damn minute of music they infect our iPod with. Their latest release is a Christmas E ... More >>

NFL & College Football Best Bets -- How Ebenezer Scrooge Saved Me

Ebenezer in the house​I went to the Alley Theater last night and saw A Christmas Carol. Fantastic production and actually my first time ever seeing it in any venue, let alone the Alley. For the completely un-Christmased of you out there, Carol is a tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy curmudge ... More >>

Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Comment Of The Day: War On Christmas Edition

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Top 12 Sexiest Christmas Album Covers

​Above is the cover of the new Christmas single by once-popular barroom grunge act Buckcherry. We have to say, we like it a lot better than we like their music. It continues a tradition of sexy yuletide album covers, which Rocks Off is proud to document for your ogling pleasure. We'll try to ... More >>

The Five Most Annoying Christmas Ads

Anyone who's watched football (or What Not to Wear, we guess) recently knows that the onslaught has begun: The horror of Christmas commercials. These heinous 30-second bits of torture can abuse viewers in several ways. Here are five of the worst. 5. Jewelry for the Meek, Submissive Weaker Sex Whet ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street, The Nerd, The Nutcracker, O Little Town of Bagels, Teacakes, and Hamburger Bun, Panto Sleeping Beauty

Seasons of Sharing: Christmas

Have a pint-sized holiday

Our Five Favorite Punk Rock Christmas Songs

​ Aside from the heavy metal Christmas songs we threw your way earlier this week, Rocks Off also loves us some punk rock Yuletide jams. Over the years plenty of punks have tried their scabby and tattooed hands at holiday songs, especially the pop-punks, who are very fond of those ironic covers ... More >>

It's A Joyful Gun-Shop Christmas In Beaumont

The ultimate Texas Christmas song comes to us from JJ's Pawn in Beaumont (hat tip to the Bayou blog).It's not the sterling production values that make this a winner, it's the True Spirit of Christmas that shines through as the sales staff, standing in front of what seems like a militia armory, offer ... More >>

Bayou Bend Family Day

Web exclusive!

Holiday Open House at Moody Mansion

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas

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Home for the Holidays at Old Town Spring

Web exclusive!

Where Santa Shops: 2008 Print Sale

Web exclusive!

Very Merry Pops

The Houston Symphony take Christmas tunes from Muzak to merry

Cantare Houston

The heavenly sounds of the season come to the MFAH

BBAP Xmas Tree Project

Local artists create a different type of seasonal decoration

Real Life

Merry Matzo Ball. Houston's Jewish singles mambo away the Christmas blues