Bayou Bytes Blog

People in sunny, outdoorsy states — Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida — say they're the happiest Americans, and researchers think they know why. A new study comparing self-described pleasant feelings with objective measures of good living found these folks generally have reason to feel fine. The places where people are most likely to report happiness also tend to rate high on studies comparing things like climate, crime rates, air quality and schools. The happiness ratings were based on a survey of 1.3 million people across the country by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It used data collected over four years that included a question asking people how satisfied they are with their lives. Read more: Study: Sunshine States Are Happiest Story can be found at Time.com

What better way is there to get into the Christmas spirit than to pick up a holiday novel? The Gift by Cecelia Ahern: Modern day Scrooge learns lessons from a homeless man. The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans: What would you do if you read your own obituary and found out what the world really thought of you? Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs: A novel about the richness of family bonds and the joys of friendship. The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber: Single woman, lonely for holidays, hires a matchmaker and gets more than she bargans for. A Christmas Blizzard by Garrison Keillor: A short comic novel about a Hawaii-bound holiday traveler who ends up stranded in his North Dakota hometown during a blizzard. Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb: A vivid slice of 1960s life, a wise and witty holiday tale that celebrates where we've been—and how far we've come.

He is also called Nicholas of Bari or Nicholas of Myra one of the most popular minor saints commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches and now traditionally associated with the festival of Christmas. In many countries children receive gifts on December 6, Saint Nicholas Day. Nicholas's existence is not attested by any historical document, so nothing certain is known of his life except that he was probably bishop of Myra in the 4th century. According to tradition, he was born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and, when young, traveled to Palestine and Egypt. He became bishop of Myra soon after returning to Lycia. He was imprisoned during the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Diocletian but was released under the rule of Emperor Constantine the Great and attended the first Council (325) of Nicaea. He was buried in his church at Myra, and by the 6th century his shrine there had become well-known. In 1087 Italian sailors or merchants stole his alleged rem...