Holidays

No mass, no problem. 

Those hoping to get their ashes on Ash Wednesday, which signifies the first day of Lent for Christians worldwide, can do so from their cars.

The holiday season tends to be less safe for drivers, and the early hours on New Year's Day are no exception.

Shooting your gun into the air on New Year's Eve — or any celebratory gunfire, for that matter — can have deadly consequences. That might seem obvious, but along with party poppers, fireworks and champagne, it remains a staple at some celebrations.

Turn on the radio, walk through a department store, watch just one online ad, and you’re at risk of getting a holiday song stuck in your head. Here's a montage of holiday-season earworms — love ‘em or hate ‘em, and a rundown of the tune KERA staffers just can't shake loose.

Hurricane Harvey flooded homes, bakeries and grocery stores across Houston, forcing many Jewish families who keep kosher to survive on crackers from the corner store.

So North Texas kosher caterers took action, and set off for Houston bearing brisket and much more. 

Every year a bakery in Corsicana churns out 1 million fruitcakes. Despite the bruised reputation of the traditional treat, the fruitcake still sells worldwide.

The holiday shopping season kicks into high gear Friday (and, in the case of a few stores, Thursday night). When you start talking shopping strategies, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly how differently we all approach the task. 

The pressure to shell out for holiday gifts, decorations, food, travel – it can push families to spend money they just don’t have. KERA is starting a new chapter in our ongoing look at life on the financial edge: One Crisis Away At The Holidays.

To kick things off we trace the modern-day history of retail spending and debt; from department store charge accounts, to wallets packed with plastic.

The tallest indoor Christmas tree in the country has just gone up at the center of Galleria Dallas. More than a dozen engineers and so-called décor experts recently helped get the tree ready for its annual appearance. 

Forget wonderful: For a lot of people, it’s the most stressful time of the year. With shopping lists, travel headaches, endless sweets and family get-togethers, the holiday season can be tough.

If you’re trying to combine education with entertainment this holiday season you’re not alone. The aisles of kids toys are packed with high-tech gadgets promise to challenge the mind. So which ones are good?

It’s hard to picture classic holiday toys without imagining a shiny, electric train.  Multiply that vision by 100, and you’ll get an idea of the annual tradition known as the Trains at NorthPark.

It’s one of the few places you can take a train ride from San Francisco to New York in just a couple minutes.

Some North Texas police departments are about to enforce their “no refusal” policy that cracks down on drunk drivers. It’s becoming a part of the holidays.

Tamales are as much a part of the holidays as eggnog, caroling and fruitcake. It’s not just the food itself, but the family effort to make them which makes tamales so special. Fronteras contributor Yvette Benavides explains the 9 rules for making the perfect Christmas tamale.

Like some ashes with your train ticket? How about with your hot chocolate? “Ashes To Go” is one way to participate in Ash Wednesday without even entering a church. Members of Oak Lawn United Methodist in Dallas decided to leave the confines of the church for the start of Lent -- the forty day period before Easter -- and give folks the telltale Ash Wednesday forehead treatment in some untraditional locations. 

Ken and Cecilia Christopherson are channeling Saint Nick in a very real way.  Part treasure hunter, part master craftsman, Ken builds dollhouses from scratch. Each one takes 100 hours to construct, and each one goes to a very sick child stuck in the hospital for the holidays.

We consulted UNT’s Steve Wiest, the jazzman who directs the famed One O’Clock Lab Band, about the particulars of terrible tunes. Turns out, there is an explanation.

Financial analysts say shoppers scouting for day-after Christmas bargains could put retailers on the road to a record-breaking holiday shopping season. KERA’s Jacqueline Fellows reports.