Jimmy Kimmel Gets Parents to Prank Kids for Christmas

Kids' letters to St. Nick go way beyond toys, and often skip 'please'

(NEWSER) - Some are funny, some are sad; some ask for a microscope, some to be transformed into an elf; but the one thing kids writing letters to Santa agree on is: no clothes. So says a professor who analyzed more than 1,200 letters sent to Santa, from one child's heart-wrenching request for a mom to the boy asking for a golden retriever who wrote "please" 16 times, the AP reports. More»

Yuletide economics dissected

(NEWSER) - Christmas is coming, and the "voluntary December calamity" of destruction of billions of dollars in value is under way, writes George Will. People will splurge on gifts their relatives and friends don't want or need, and the discrepancy between the cost of the present and its value to the recipient adds up to wasted billions, Will writes in the Washington Post . More»

Boots, joke books, comfort clothes score big in recession

(NEWSER) - Christmas shoppers are thinking small this year, and the gifts they're buying reveal how Americans are coping with recession, USA Today reports. Here's a list of today's trends:

• Practical: Nearly half of the most popular items searched for online were boots, according to one mall inventory service. Gifts that help people organize and save time, like USB flash drives, are also popular.

Donations off as much as 30%, some say

(NEWSER) - Across the country, charities that dole out gifts to underprivileged kids have seen donations fall off steeply compared to last holiday season, USA Today reports. Some are reporting as much as a 30% decline in giving as the economy flags. “Families that would normally have been helping us by donating are now turning to us for help,” a spokeswoman for one charity said. More»

Jimmy Kimmel, President Obama pile on

(NEWSER) - Jimmy Kimmel received generally good marks as host of the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night, tweaking both parties without going for the jugular. And both Kimmel and the president dinged Mitt Romney—not in attendance—a few times. Among the top lines of the night, as per Politico :

• "It doesn't matter if you're black, like President Obama, or white, like President Obama, or red, like President Obama's agenda," said Kimmel.
• "I talked to a guy who was a huge supporter of ObamaCare and a guy who said it was a disaster and it should be killed immediately, which was interesting because I never met Mitt Romney before."
• To New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: "I think you're misunderstanding New Jersey's slogan. It's not the Olive Garden state."
• To Obama, on a darker note: "Remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious."