Holiday Season

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

10 Reasons to Be Thankful Christmas Is Over

After a full blast Christmas season, most of us are worn out to the point of exhaustion. The time spent with family, the commercialism, the "sounds of the season" and the gluttonous embarrassment of feasting is enough to drive anyone to drink, which you probably also did too much of this year for a ... More >>

10 Reasons to Be Pissed Christmas Is Over

Is there anything more depressing than hearing a Christmas song the day AFTER Christmas? It makes me want to punch Nat King Cole in the face. When we reach the moment that is literally the furthest away from Christmas we will get every year, there's a sort of resigned melancholy that resonates with ... More >>

What's Cooking This Week? Christmas Eve Spinach Loaf, Savory Bread Pudding and More

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal ... More >>

What's Cooking on Pinterest? Christmas Tree Pancakes

Are you looking for a fun breakfast to make on Christmas morning? Pinterest is here to help you find the cheeriest breakfast your kids (and you) will love. It's a simple Bisquick pancake recipe with an extra addition of green food coloring. Turn your plain pancakes green and stack to make a beautif ... More >>

Last, Last Minute Christmas Shopping: Five Gifts from the Gas Station

You pop out of bed on Christmas morning. You've been asleep for a couple of days thanks to that crazy ass holiday party at the office. You crawl out of bed and remember that you need to be at your mom's house in a couple hours for lunch and merriment. As you reach the bathroom and strain your eyes i ... More >>

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

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 >>

Perfection and Value in a Bottle: Syrah Rosé from California for $16

I'm just going to go ahead and blurt it out: The 2011 rosé from Syrah by Santa Barbara, California winery Ampelos is my favorite discovery for 2012 and it's my number one wine for the 2012 holiday season. It's one of those rare wines that fire on all cylinders. It's fresh and it's clean. It's got ... More >>

What's Cooking on Pinterest? Pumpkin Christmas Cookies for Your Dog

I am officially home for the holidays, so Christmas cookie baking has begun. But who says your dog can't enjoy Christmas cookies this year? I always make sure to buy my dog a couple of holiday treats to enjoy on Christmas morning, but when I came across a few Christmas cookies for the dog on Pintere ... More >>

What the #?!$ is Hanukkah?: 10 Songs to Help You Figure It Out

It's December now, and the holiday season is rapidly approaching. If you're a Christian, you know the reason for the season is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus H. Christ. But one thing you may have noticed is that we don't live in a Christian nation, contrary to the beliefs of commentators su ... More >>

5 New Holiday Albums For Your Halloween Horror

Right now, as soon as you can either get to year nearest music retailer or click over to iTunes or Amazon, you can buy the first holiday-themed 2012 album we have heard of, Jason Gray's Christmas Stories: Repeat the Sounding Joy. If that sounds early to you, well, yeah, but we actually got the email ... More >>

Armed Man Crawls Through Drive-Thru Window To Rob Fast-Food Place (w/VIDEO)

Imagine if Santa Claus was armed and wearing a bandanna across his face. Not a very Merry Christmas, to be sure, but Kris Kringle was apparently the inspiration for one robber. The Harris County Sheriff's Office and Crime Stoppers have released surveillance video of the robbery, which features the ... More >>

A Little House Christmas

God Bless You, Every One

The Nutcracker

Capsule Stage Review: Fruitcakes

Capsule Stage Reviews: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Cinderella, Fruitcakes, The Santaland Diaries

Classic Christmas: Ella Fitzgerald's Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​There is an admission that I have to make having written all these Classic Christmas posts this year. When I think of Christmas, I don't think of carols or choirs or ... More >>

Feliz Navidad: A Christmas Playlist En Español

photo by Marco TorresNavidad en el Barrio​We here at Rocks Off love our Christmas music, except when we don't. Seriously, big box retailer and car commercials? Why must you always try to force the Christmas spirit on us a full two weeks before Thanksgiving? But then, about a week before the big da ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Elvis' Christmas Album

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​In 1957 at the near peak of his early success, Elvis Presley did what many artists did: He made a Christmas record. The result was what would become one of the best s ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Bing Crosby's White Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Bing Crobsy was the first crossover pop star. He made movies, music, appeared in both radio and television programs and did all of it successfully and, more important ... More >>

Remember Max Headroom?: Creepy And Stupid Christmas Videos From Holidays Past And Present

​Yeah! It's almost Christmas! With each minute we are all one step closer to the day when we can stop posting lists about things pertaining to the holiday. Seriously, by the second week in December you almost type "Christmas" instead of your own name sometimes, and your brain atrophies wheneve ... More >>

Santa’s Cool Holiday Film Festival

Houston's thelastplaceyoulook Gets Into The Christmas Spirit With "Do You Hear?"

Photo by Groovehouse​Rocks Off is getting into the Christmas spirit, slowly but surely, and now that it's finally December, all your Facebook posts concerning your holiday plans have become much more tolerable. The music, classic though it may be, has needed an update for quite some time. In ... More >>

Classic Christmas: A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra

​There are many arguments to be made about music, but one that I doubt anyone could actually win is the one that goes, "There was someone in music at some point cooler than Frank Sinatra." Trying to make that argument is like trying to say Kobe was better than Michael. Sure, you can say it, bu ... More >>

Very Merry Pops

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 >>

A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of Christmas from the Alley: A Splendid Production

Jeffrey Bean as Ebenezer Scrooge and James Belcher as Spirit of Christmas Present. The setup: The Alley Theatre adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol returns in all its theatrical splendor for the 16th time. The execution: This adaptation, by Michael Wilson, premiered at the Alley i ... More >>

Rocks Off's Annual Descent Into Sunny 99.1's Christmas Music K-Hole

Since 2008, I have spent an hour listening to Sunny 99.1 FM's Christmas music for the Rocks Off blog. Right after Thanksgiving, it's the first thing on my checklist, right next to finding new, weird holiday music for you and trying not to gain 20 pounds in merriment by January. Most of the time on ... More >>

62nd Annual Holiday Parade Presented by H-E-B

Merry Christmas From Rocks Off

Rocks Off polled our staff for their favorite Christmas songs to create a playlist for you to enjoy while you open presents, drink egg nog, or however else you celebrate. Enjoy. Ahh, the gift that keeps on giving...​Editor's Pick: U2, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)": Neph Basedow: Ped ... More >>

Eight Tips for Improving Your Christmas Dinner Photos

John McStravickGet creative with your Christmas dinner photos and even a drunken brawl will look good!​Christmas dinner can be a wonderful experience, sitting around a big table with family and friends laughing and enjoying each other's company. It can also be a horrible disaster complete with ... More >>

Ten Bizarro Christmas-Carol Covers

​Thanks to holiday-themed compilations like A Very Special Christmas and Little Steven's Christmas A Go-Go, we often hear our favorite modern artists putting their spin on holiday classics. But for those who are tired of forcing Mariah Carey's eight-octave "All I Want For Christmas" on their f ... More >>

Random Christmas Food Traditions: Junk Food, Arby's and Red Lobster

​Quickie-mart junk food, roast "beef" from Arby's and Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster were what we ate around the holidays when I was growing up back in Florida. Sure, Christmas Day had the usual suspects of turkey and cornbread dressing, but before Christmas and after, we bowed down to ... More >>

Random Christmas Food Tradition: Pizza on Christmas Eve

barron​We eat pizza every Christmas Eve for at least the last five years. It's nothing special, we just call in a delivery or takeout order to the nearest pizza chain (last year it was Domino's), pitch in a couple bucks, and chow down when it arrives, presumably hot and steaming. It's one of ... More >>

Shellee Coley's Somber Tidings Of Comfort And Joy

​Shellee Coley is an acoustic siren with an amazingly haunting voice, and one of the many talented acts in the Magnolia Red family. Her debut album, The Girl the Stencil Drew, was a soft, sad, sweet spinning disc of delightfully dark ironies that we still cannot believe didn't make it into our ... More >>

11 Songs You Shouldn't Sing At The Office Holiday Party

​'Tis the season for office Christmas holiday parties. No doubt you have already had yours at work, or are getting ready for one. They all include copious drinking, great food, stolen glances, slurry conversations, "Can ah bum ah cigarette?" and intentional accidental groping. No bonus this ... More >>

Top 10 Christmas Movie Soundtracks

​No doubt you have all been chin-deep in Christmas movies since you undid your belt on Thanksgiving evening. Rocks Off made sure to steal a copy of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation from our folks' house before the calendar even hit December. Unlike other blogs, we don't hate all Christm ... More >>

Five Alternative Uses for Candy Canes

pinguinoBonus idea: the candy cane mohawk. ​During the holiday season I am always inundated with candy canes. Friends, family and co-workers offer them as snacks, affix them to presents and, in the case of my mother, send them to me in the mail. I can't possibly consume this stockpile, and no ... More >>

60th Annual H-E-B Holiday Parade

An astronaut? Okay. An actress? All right. Santa Claus? Cool!

Sugar Land Town Square Christmas Concert and Movie

Web exclusive!

Las Posadas Wonder Weekend

Web exclusive!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Web exclusive!

Where Santa Shops: 2008 Print Sale

Web exclusive!

Seasons of Sharing at Children’s Museum of Houston

Web exclusive!

Eve of Christmas Eve Party

‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas and there was plenty to entertain, including a band based on “pain.”

Lights in the Heights and 45th Annual Candlelight Tour — The Sights and Sounds of the Holidays

Lighten up for Christmas

2007 Jingle Bell Run & Walk

The YMCA turns downtown into a North Pole race course

Lights in the Heights and 45th Annual Candlelight Tour — The Sights and Sounds of the Holidays

Lighten up for Christmas