oddly enough

oddly enough

Pa. smoke shop has Santa huff on a hookah

GREENVILLE, Pa.

A northwestern Pennsylvania tobacco shop is turning the image of the jovial, pipe-smoking Santa on its head by having Saint Nick huff on a hookah.

Up In Smoke store manager Sue Stoyer says that customer reaction to the display has been mixed. But she notes that many early depictions of Santa Claus have him puffing on a pipe.

Clement Clark Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” includes a reference to the jolly old elf clenching a pipe in his teeth, with a ring of smoke around his head.

The tiny town’s holiday parade earlier this month made the window a source of both amusement and scorn. But Stoyer shrugs off any criticism. She says Santa’s history as a smoker is on the shop’s side.

Christmas package arrives 1 year later

WINTER BEACH, Fla.

An Arkansas woman finally has proof that she bought her mother a Christmas gift last year.

The package Mary Beth Mauldin sent via the United States Postal Service last December finally arrived in Florida on Dec. 16 — one year and six days after it was mailed from Greenbrier, Ark.

The Vero Beach Press Journal reports Mauldin visited the post office numerous times over the past year to try to track the package.

The box contained a gift card and a flannel nightgown for her mother, Mary Lou Shelton.

The women got an apology from post office officials, who say they aren’t sure what caused the delay.

Shelton also got some additional holiday cheer when her daughter’s Christmas card arrived Monday, three days after it was mailed from Arkansas.

Daggers hidden in book at airport

WASHINGTON

The Transportation Security Administration says officers found two throwing daggers hidden in a hollowed-out book at a checkpoint at Reagan-Washington National Airport.

A TSA spokesman says a passenger was stopped Monday when officers found the knives in the person’s carry-on bag. The daggers measured just over a half-foot long and were hidden in the hard-cover book.

The passenger was flying to Chicago and surrendered the knives and book.

The TSA has the authority to fine passengers who bring deadly weapons into the airport checkpoint. It was not known if this was done in this case.

A spokesman for the airport did not immediately return a call for comment.