Artist creates giant Kanye West pumpkin for Christmas
An Ohio pumpkin artist turned some autumn art festive when she transformed a giant Kanye West pumpkin into a Christmas decoration. Jeanette Paras, the artist behind Paras Pumpkins, shared a video showing her Kanye West Christmas pumpkin, which is decked out in a Santa hat reading: “Make Pumpkins Great Again.” “We wish ‘Ye’ a Merry Christmas,” Paras says in the video. The Kanye pumpkin, which was originally decorated for fall, weighs in at 315 pounds.
(UPI)
Church ends 70-year dinner tradition
A Minnesota church has ended its 70-year tradition of serving a dinner of lutefisk, a Nordic dish of dried cod soaked in lye, and the pastor has penned a eulogy for the dinner’s end. Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake, Minnesota, would serve a Scandinavian dinner featuring the pungent, jellylike fish the first Tuesday in December. But the Rev John Klawiter wrote an obituary for the annual dinner in the community newspaper last month.
Klawiter wanted the obit to read as a tribute to the seven decades the church in east-central Minnesota has served hundreds of pounds of lutefisk at the annual dinner, dubbed “Holy Tuesday,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported . “There was a lot of pride that this made it to 70 years,” said Klawiter, a self-described “lutefisk convert”. The dinner would require about 190 volunteers. Planners had to find ways to fill gaps left by volunteers who had died or grown too frail.
This fall, the group also wondered how the event could draw more young families from the congregation and from Forest Lake, a town of about 20,000 about 40 km northeast of Minneapolis. Most of the 500 people who went to the church and waited their turn for the $20 meal were not members of Faith Lutheran or even residents of Forest Lake.
Planners wondered if a turkey dinner would be a better option, but decided a menu change would not make things easier for the volunteers. While no immediate replacement was announced, the pastor says the focus now will be on creating a new tradition. And the obit notes that lutefisk lovers still have other options nearby, with Scandinavian dinners in other area towns listed as “survivors.”
(AP)
Burger King’s promotion is going to the dogs, literally
Burger King hopes its new food innovation is a doggone good one. On Wednesday, the fast-food chain unveiled a new meal deal that includes a treat for dogs called the Dogpper, which “is the first flame grilled bone offered at BK for your best friend,” according to a news release. Burger King said the offer is a way for customers to enjoy their order at home without interruption from their begging pets. “This dog-friendly alternative to the Whopper sandwich is a bone-shaped treat with flame-grilled beef taste for the dogs of these generous owners,” Burger King said in a news release. Guests who order a Whopper sandwich will receive one dog bone for free. But this isn’t available for pickup or dine-in, and only through the DoorDash food delivery service. DoorDashers deliver food and other items from local merchants to customers across the United States and Canada. New delivery customers can get a no-fee delivery with a $10 order at DoorDash through Tuesday. The news release notes the product is “not for human consumption.”
(UPI)
Teen rescued from inside abandoned bank vault
Police in Florida said a 17-year-old playing around in an abandoned bank ended up needing to be rescued from inside the former business’ vault. Hollywood police said two teenagers entered the former Bank of America branch Wednesday and one of them, a 17-year-old boy, ended up locked inside the vault about 1.30 pm.
“Unfortunately, there were two juveniles that were playing around inside an abandoned bank and they didn’t know that the vault was still active,” Hollywood police Officer Christian Lata told WPLG-TV. “[While] playing inside the vault, one of them got trapped inside and, luckily, the other one was outside and was able to call 911.”
Police responded with the Hollywood Fire Department, a Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue technical rescue team and at least two private vault technicians to attempt to free the boy bank heist style, but an attempt to drill into the wall of the bank to reach the boy failed. Lata said the boy was released from the vault after more than three hours when a Bank of America employee from the branch’s new location was able to come to the scene and give authorities the combination to open the door.
(UPI)
Mall Santa poses with 23 sets of twins in Illinois
A group of Chicago-area moms pulled off a complicated Christmas photo when they got 23 total sets of twins to pose together with a mall Santa. The moms, members of the Chicago Twin Moms group, said they have long sought to pull off the busy Santa photo, but the closest they came was gathering 18 sets of twins to pose with the Easter Bunny earlier this year. The 23 mothers, each with a set of twins and some with spare children, converged on the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg this week to get the near-perfect photo. “Pretty chaotic right now,” mother Courtney Polite told WLS-TV. “You’re never [going to] get all these kids to not be crying or all looking at the same time.” Mall officials said they were pleased to be able to host such an unusual photo.
(UPI)
