Gather around, everyone and grab the milk and cookies. Build a fire if you need to--I'll wait for you. Okay, are the Christmas lights on? Good. It's time to talk about some more Christmas urban legends. So let's get started:

4. Power companies are fining customers for holiday light displays.

Part one in the Christmas Scrooge catagory, is this for real? Why would a power company do that? Isn't it enough that they already make mucho bucks simply by charging the person for the power all those extra lights use? Do they really need to fine people, too? What about the Christmas spirit? Don't these people have any?

I suppose we could get into a nice discussion now about global warming and pollution and how people in many other parts of the world might think that it is perfectly fair to charge people for excess use of power simply for the purpose of superfluous light displays. But this isn't that kind of article. So, let's just discuss whether or not this particular urban legend has any basis in fact.

Most of us fit in one of two catagories. Either we are in the group that loves to decorate for Christmas, donning our houses with hundreds of lights and displays of nativity scenes and Santa and his reindeer (and occasionally annoying our neighbors in the bargain), or we are in the group that drives around looking at the houses of the people who decorate that way, tying up traffic and astounding ourselves on the amount of creativity, insanity, and/or free time the people in these houses must possess. But no matter which catagory we fall into, Christmas lights are an undenyable part of the holiday season. So, it seems pretty unreasonable to think that some electric companies would fine people for adding to the festivity of the season. Well, relax. It's not true.

According to Snopes.com, it all started out as a practical joke played on the listeners of three different radio stations in three separate areas of the country. And just as it is with many of these types of jokes, not everyone was amused. In the case of these jokes, it was the power companies that suffered under the onslaught of angry customers. Needless to say, they weren't amused. And just as it is also often true with these types of things, the joke didn't stop there. It was shared and passed around from person to person and an urban legend was born.

5. Santa's reindeer are actually female.

Most of us have seen this interesting little tidbit of information on the internet. Because male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter while female reindeer retain them until spring, Santa's reindeer must have been female.But, is it true? Well, the truth is, I'm not sure. This information is generally attributed to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game so I went to their site myself to check it out. And, unfortunately, I found nothing to verify this information. However, I did find information specifically about Santa's reindeer. It's quite an interesting read, but unfortunately it doesn't give us any definitive information on the sexuality of Santa's reindeer. But that's okay with me. I'm much more interested in how they manage to fly through the air.

6. Toy donations for needy kids left at a Walmart were returned to the shelves and sold.

Part two in the Christmas Scrooge catagory. Now, I'll tell you right here and now -- I am no fan of Walmart. I don't shop there for many reasons and considering how negative my feelings about them are, it would be very easy for me to just believe this story without looking into it farther. But that wouldn't be fair, would it? So, a little research was in order.

Well, what I found was this: According to Snopes.com, the whole situation, which only happened in one store, was a misunderstanding. Fair enough. And the article goes on to inform us of all the good Walmart does in the community in the way of donations. Again, fair enough. We'll leave the debate about Walmart's overall effect on the economy and the loss of good American jobs to overseas factories for another place and another time. In this particular situation, the rumor is only that, a rumor. And there you have it.

Best and Brightest wishes for a happy holiday season!!