Category: News

This article originally appeared on 12.09.16

“It’s the mooost wonderful tiiiiime of the — OH NO, did Charlie just ask if Santa is real?!”

— What some mom or dad is probably thinking this very moment

If you’re a parent in a household that celebrates Christmas, you can likely relate to the dreaded Santa Claus conversation. It may come with tears, it may come with tantrums, and it may even be worse for you, seeing that heart-wrenching look of disappointment spread across your child’s once-merry face.

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It’s a dilemma Charity Hutchinson of British Columbia has been thinking about recently, as a mom to two young boys and the two nephews she cares for as well.

**********THIS PHOTO BY THERESA WAS CROPPED TO THE 3X2 SO NOT SURE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR SETTING VS WHAT THE ACTUAL PHOTO WAS***********************

Just a few days ago, one of Hutchinson’s nephews raised the question, telling her he no longer believed in Santa Claus.

“I felt sad because he seemed disappointed telling me his news,” she explains in a message. “And in that moment I didn’t know what to say to him.”

Hutchinson soon stumbled upon some advice online, finding what she described as “by far the best idea I’ve seen about telling your kids about Santa.”

The idea of Santa may seem frivolous to many adults, but to believe in something much bigger than yourself, only to learn you’ve been lied to by the people you trust most in the world? That can be a really big deal to a kid (and can possibly even create long-term trust issues for them, as one study found). The Santa conversation is one many parents understandably want to get right.

So when Hutchinson saw one of her friends on Facebook share an anonymous post detailing a strategy for breaking the news to your kids without disappointing them, she was thrilled.

Hutchinson loved the idea so much, she shared it on Facebook as well:

This is by far the best idea I’ve seen about telling your kids about Santa. Had to share! *********”In our family, we…
Posted by Charity Hutchinson on Tuesday, November 29, 2016

This is how it works:

1. Find a time to take your kid out, one-on-one, to a favorite spot and deliver the great news: The time has come for them to become a Santa.

The post explains (emphasis mine):

“When they are 6 or 7, whenever you see that dawning suspicion that Santa may not be a material being, that means the child is ready. I take them out ‘for coffee’ at the local wherever. We get a booth, order our drinks, and the following pronouncement is made: ‘You sure have grown an awful lot this year. Not only are you taller, but I can see that your heart has grown, too.'”

The post suggests pointing to a few different examples of how your kid has shown empathy or done something nice for another person throughout the past year. Let them know it was in those moments they proved themselves worthy of finally “becoming a Santa” themselves.

2. Assure your kid that they’re ready to become a Santa because they understand the true meaning of giving (it’s not just about the milk and cookies).

“You probably have noticed that most of the Santas you see are people dressed up like him. Some of your friends might have even told you that there is no Santa. A lot of children think that because they aren’t ready to BE a Santa yet, but YOU ARE.”

Get them talking about all the reasons they think Santa’s the best. They may start out by pointing to his sleigh-riding skills or the fact he can go around the whole world in just one night. But move the conversation toward Santa being not so much of a cool person, but a cool concept that’s focused on giving. Handing out presents makes the spirit of Santa a spectacular thing. Because your kid understands why giving back matters too, it’s time they become a Santa themselves.

Also, “make sure you maintain the proper conspiratorial tone,” the post notes.

3. Now that they’re in on the secret, have them choose someone who could really use a great gift and devise a plan to give it away — secretly, of course.

“We then have the child choose someone they know — a neighbor, usually. The child’s mission is to secretly, deviously, find out something that the person needs, and then provide it, wrap it, deliver it — and never reveal to the target where it came from. Being a Santa isn’t about getting credit, you see. It’s unselfish giving.”

In the original post, the writer explains that their oldest child decided to buy a gift for a neighbor who always walked out to get the newspaper without her shoes on. Their son spied on the neighbor one day from the bushes to estimate her shoe size — he predicted she wore mediums — and then slipped a pair of slippers under her driveway gate one evening with a note “from Santa.” The following morning, the neighbor was spotted wearing the slippers. Their son was ecstatic.

4. Remind them that being a Santa is top-secret business. And that, next year, they can carry on with their selfless Santa duties once again.

“I had to remind him that NO ONE could ever know what he did or he wouldn’t be a Santa. Over the years, he chose a good number of targets, always coming up with a unique present just for them.”

One year, for instance, he polished up a bike for a family friend’s daughters. The writer’s son was just as over the moon about giving the gift as the daughters were about receiving it.

Over the past week, Hutchinson’s post has racked up thousands of Likes and shares, with plenty of thankful parents chiming in in the comments.

“I never imagined it would be so popular!” Hutchinson explains. “I mean, it felt special when I read it and completely gave me goosebumps, but I didn’t realize it would go this far.”

Where the original post came from is still somewhat of a mystery. As The Huffington Post reported, it seems to have first cropped up in 2007 in an online forum. Ever since, the idea has floated around the web here and there, but has only made waves recently with Hutchinson’s post going viral.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

The secret of being a Santa, so to speak, has already worked its holiday magic on Hutchinson’s once-suspicious nephew.

Filling him in on becoming a Santa was an instant game-changer, she says.

“His eyes lit right up,” she writes. “That excitement and joy returned to him and he couldn’t stop asking me questions! … Instantly I could see the wheels were turning and he started planning who his special target would be and what he would get them and how he’d pull it off.”

Hutchinson is happy her simple Facebook post has turned into something so special. “It isn’t just a nice way to break the news to your kids,” she writes. “But it really teaches them about the true meaning of Christmas and how you should always give to others.”

Imagine everything you’d experience while strolling through a mall — the smells, the sights, the things to touch…

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… can be overwhelming for someone with autism.

To Jo Wincup, whose 15-year-old son, Ben, has autism, this reality hits close to home.

“Four years ago, my son had a meltdown in a shopping center after becoming overloaded by the crowds, bright lights, and smells. He started kicking me, shouting, and swearing. We tried to get him outside to help him calm down, but the people [lining up] for buses just stared, some even said really hurtful things. This upset Ben even more. He ran off into the bushes and refused to come out. I just wanted to cry, for the ground to swallow us up.”

The National Autistic Society is hoping to give viewers a peek into this reality with a new and gripping PSA.

Seen through the eyes of a boy with autism, the video by the U.K.-based group takes viewers through a shopping center, allowing them to experience what living on the spectrum can feel like.

After he’s overwhelmed by his surroundings and struggling with his mother (as onlookers gape at what appears to be a child acting out), the boy explains to viewers: “I’m not naughty, I’m autistic.”

It’s important that we all understand what autism can feel like so that we can build a more empathetic world.

Although a large majority of people have heard of autism, a very small number of people actually understand how living on the spectrum can affect behavior. Many kids aren’t necessarily naughty; they’re dealing with a condition most of us can’t experience firsthand.

A new report from the National Autistic Society found that 87% of families say people stare at their child who has autism, and 84% of people on the spectrum say others perceive them as “strange.” Unfortunately, this contributes to the reason why nearly 8 in 10 folks with autism report feeling socially isolated.

“It isn’t that the public sets out to be judgmental towards autistic people,” Mark Lever, chief executive of the organization, said in a statement, noting the research provided “shocking” results.

“They tell us that they want to be understanding but often just don’t ‘see’ the autism. They see a ‘strange’ man pacing back and forth in a shopping center, or a ‘naughty’ girl having a tantrum on a bus, and don’t know how to respond.”

It doesn’t have to be this way, though.

The more we all understand autism, the more people on the spectrum can feel OK about being themselves.

“Autism is complex and autistic people and their families don’t expect or want people to be experts,” Lever explained. But a “basic understanding could transform lives.”

Watch The National Autistic Society’s PSA below:

Kelela exploded onto the electro R&B scene with her proper 2017 debut, Take Me Apart. Her music is nothing short of intergalactic pop, forged in dance music styles with Kelela as the fierce central figure that you can’t turn away from. Her follow-up, Raven, is officially on deck for 2023 and all of the early dispatches from Kelela so far have been heavenly.

Out on February 10th, 2023 on Warp Records, Raven already has three singles out. The sultry album opener “Washed Away,” the drum and bass pop banger “Happy Ending,” and the afrobeat-inflected “On The Run.” The “Happy Ending” video celebrates NYC’s underground ballroom dance floor culture.

Kelela has said that the album is an expression of her self-renewal and shared a reflective statement about it.

“I started this process from the feeling of isolation and alienation I’ve always had as a black femme in dance music, despite its black origins,” Kelela said. “Raven is my first breath taken in the dark, an affirmation of black femme perspective in the midst of systemic erasure and the sound of our vulnerability turned to power.”

This definitely promises to be one of 2023’s early favorites. Check out the album artwork and tracklist for Raven below.

1. “Washed Away”
2. “Happy Ending”
3. “Let It Go”
4. “On The Run”
5. “Missed Call”
6. “Closure”
7. “Contact”
8. “Fooley”
9. “Holier”
10. “Raven”
11. “Bruises”
12. “Sorbet”
13. “Divorce”
14. “Enough For Love”
15. “Far Away”

Raven is out 2/10/2023 via Warp. Pre-order it here.

Cranberry sauce is an essential component of any turkey dinner. But there’s a pretty good chance — even in the year of our lord, 2022 — that it’ll come out of a can in jelly form instead of the real stuff. That’s a shame. Homemade cranberry sauce is very easy to make from scratch and truly takes little effort.

Plus, you can make it a few days early. Really helping the flavors meld and pop when you dish it out on Turkey Day.

For the recipe below, I’ve kept things pretty simple. You can get all the ingredients at any decent grocery store or online via Amazon. The only effort you’ll need to put in is paying attention to a pot for around 10 minutes. And in that 10 minutes, you’ll yield a cranberry sauce that’ll actually wow at your next turkey dinner. It also rules with roasted duck, goose, pork loin, and even some Swedish meatballs.

Okay, let’s get into it and make some delicious, bourbon-y, and spicy cranberry sauce.

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Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup real apple cider (the stuff in the cooler)
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 4 allspice berries
• 8 peppercorns
• 1 small teaspoon of garam masala
• Zest of 1 orange + juice
• Pinch of kosher salt

What You’ll Need:

• Medium pot
• Jar with lid
• Microplane or small grater
• Measuring cup
• Wooden spoon

Method:

• Add all the ingredients — except the orange zest, juice, and salt — to the pot and bring to a slow simmer.
• Allow to simmer — not boil — until the cranberries break and start to create a jammy base, making sure to stir every few minutes. Add the orange zest, juice, and a large pinch of salt and continue to simmer until the liquid creates a thick-ish jam base. This should take about 10 minutes max.
• Once you have a jammy sauce with cranberries that are just there (broken down and cooked down but not completely gone), take off the heat and pour it into a jar or bowl. Let cool and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. It should last about two weeks in the fridge.

Bottom Line:

All told, this took less than 20 minutes (it was just over 10 minutes of cooking time) and yielded a cranberry sauce in a different universe than the canned stuff. There’s a deep acidity maintained with the citrus and cranberry that’s perfect for countering all the savory, herbal, and fatty foods on a typical Thanksgiving plate.

The woody spices really add a nice sharpness and dark/wintry element with a hint of bitterness. There’s a touch of sweetness thanks to the apple cider and brown sugar but it’s pretty far in the background compared to the spices and berries. The bourbon just peeks through with an almost brandied cherry vibe with a hint of vanilla. It’s a nice mix.

Overall, this was pretty damn easy, too — you really just have to keep an eye on it and stir it so that it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot. That’s really all the effort you need. Plus, you can make this way ahead of time, well before Thursday. That’s a win-win, folks!

Taylor Swift made a recent appearance at the 2022 American Music Awards over the weekend with a look that got fans talking — for several reasons. Trading in her signature straight hair, Swift opted for large, ’70s-inspired curls reminiscent of her early country career. Many fans believe this was a conscious choice as yet another Easter egg for Speak Now being next in line for her re-recorded albums.

Sure, she might have just released her tenth studio album, Midnights. That hasn’t stopped the pop star from teasing fans about what’s next. In the music video for Swift’s “Bejeweled,” she drops countless hints at Speak Now. An album era that was notoriously light purple, Swift pushes the corresponding color in the elevator. Not only that, but the color palette matches perfectly with her current record sequence.

With thirteen numbers on the elevator, the order ends with a mysterious second purple button. Given Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) are both accounted for at buttons ten and eleven (ahead of Midnights), it seems clear what’s coming next.

Fans also focused on Swift’s earrings from the AMAs, which were a pair of swords — and might be a reference to a lyric from the Speak Now song “Mean.”

Continue scrolling for some fan reactions to Swift’s potential recent round of Easter eggs.

Last year, Ice Cube reportedly walked away from a $9 million paycheck after refusing to get the COVID vaccine. The rapper/actor was set to star in the comedy Oh Hell No alongside Jack Black, but he wouldn’t comply with protocol that required everyone on the Hawaii film set to be vaccinated. While Cube had promoted mask-wearing all throughout the pandemic, he apparently drew the line at the COVID vaccine, and now, he’s talking about the experience.

While stopping by the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Cube confirmed that, yes, he did lose out on $9 million for refusing the COVID vaccine. Via Variety:

“I turned down a movie because I didn’t want to get the motherf*cking jab,” Cube said, confirming the Oct. 2021 reports. “I turned down $9 million. I didn’t want get the jab. F*ck that jab. F*ck ya’ll for trying to make me get it. I don’t know how Hollywood feels about me right now.”

However, Cube walked back his “turned down” comments and clarified that the producers decided not to cast him when he wouldn’t get vaccinated.

“Those m*therfuckers didn’t give it to me because I wouldn’t get the shot,” Cube said. “I didn’t turn it down. They just wouldn’t give it to me. The COVID shot, the jab…I didn’t need it. I didn’t catch that shit at all. Nothing. F*ck them. I didn’t need that sh*t.”

When asked if the experience has pushed him to start his own independent studio, Cube said. “I’m working on it. I’m hustling. … Got a lot of things up my sleeve.”

(Via Variety)

After six years, enigmatic Top Dawg Entertainment rapper Ab-Soul announced he would drop his long-awaited fifth album, Herbert, in December — what a nice way to help fans close out the year.

Probably one of the most mysterious members of the Top Dawg crew, Ab-Soul gets more vulnerable than ever on his upcoming project. After 2016’s Do What Thou Wilt, the rapper uses his forthcoming project to reflect on his career and making music.

According to a recent press statement, this album paints “an intimate portrait of the man behind Ab-Soul” and will trek through his life, past struggles, and journey back into music. The new project references the rapper’s birth name, Herbert Anthony Stevens IV.

“Herbert is a deliberately intimate portrait of the man behind Ab-Soul going back to his foundation,” the statement reads. “As noted by the name of the record, leaving the conspiracy theories, he’s known for behind while emphasizing his musicality. After suffering through a series of unspeakable tragedies, Stevens completed the album as a changed man with a new sense of purpose.”

Last week, the Los Angeles rapper released a video for “Gang Nem,” along with releasing two songs earlier this year, including “Hollandaise” in April and “Moonshooter” in September.

So far, the tracklist and features haven’t been revealed yet for the upcoming album.

Herbert is out 12/16 via TDE Records.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a famously debauched movie. The “What Parents Need to Know” section for the Martin Scorsese-directed film on Common Sense Media includes the words: “graphic sex,” “Quaaludes,” “bloody face-bashing scene,” and the “f-word [is] uttered nearly constantly, as well as almost every other vulgar word in the book.”

It’s a good time.

But Margot Robbie, who played the “hottest blonde ever” in The Wolf of Wall Street, promises that her next movie will be even more wild. “I remember being on set for [The Wolf of Wall Street] and thinking, ‘I’ll never be in a film as crazy as this ever again.’ And then I made Babylon,” she told Empire. “There’s a dizzying amount of debauchery. One of the most disturbing, chaotic scenes I’ve ever witnessed is in this film, and it involves a fight with a snake. I won’t tell you who wins or loses that fight, but trust me, it’s insane.”

I’ll never forget seeing The Wolf of Wall Street in the theater, and during the scene where Robbie appears in a doorway naked, a man seated a few rows behind me yelled to no one and everyone, “Oh my god.” I bet that guy will watch Babylon on opening weekend.

Babylon opens on December 23.

(Via Empire)

The Bitcoin and cryptocurrency market has been taking a massive plunge as of late. Crypto exchange platform FTX — which had endorsement deals with Larry David, Steph Curry, Larry David, and the Miami Heat — filed for bankruptcy this month, making it the largest crypto-related bankruptcy in history. And its founder has allegedly been doing some sketchy things in the wake of it, too.

Naturally, Rick Ross predicted this. Well… sort of.

A viral video of Ross from last May has been making the rounds again, namely because Rozay’s call-outs in it are aging pretty well. “The metaverse, crypto… Y’all getting so much money, where you at? Show us,” Ross says in the clip as he walks around his mansion in a Martha’s Vineyard crew neck and thick gold chains. “And I don’t mean, ‘Oh I’m tryna get money,’ nah. I got a lot of money. I don’t even need that fake money. But show us. Show my homies what the metaverse about.”

To be fair, Ross wanted answers from the crypto community as to why their money-making plans were so sensational and merited his attention. At one point, he emphatically says, “Educate us!” That’s been a sticking point within crypto and NFT communities; it’s hard to wrap your head around the new technology and its accessibility.

Ross went on: “One of y’all big boy crypto dudes, guru crypto picture takers. Step up and say, ‘This what we gon do Rozay!’ Where ya at? Huh? Yeah, everybody giggling… all that fake rich money, where’s it at? Educate us! I know some rich homies who getting money. Bitcoin Rodney. that boy gettin’ real money, but come on man, bring it to the Renzel-verse, man.”

Well whoever is gonna hip Rick Ross on the merits of crypto, it’s not going to be FTX.

Is this what they’ve been waiting for? Yes, sir. The wait is officially over as rapper Meek Mill dropped his long-awaited mixtape, Flamerz 5. After teasing fans with the snippet early this month, the rapper dropped the official video for his “God Did” freestyle.

Flipping his friend DJ Khaled’s Grammy-nominated single, Meek leaves it all in the booth. In the song, the Philadelphia native reveals the status of his relationship with mentor Jay-Z, the murder of his late friend PnB Rock, and more.

Meek gets straight to it in the first verse of the song. The rapper dismisses rumored beef with Jay-Z in the bar, “Never turned my back on Jigga, and every time he talk, I listen / but I got so much murder on my mind that it be hard to listen.” He doubled down on the fact that his decision to step away from Roc Nation Management did not cause a rife in their relationship.

Nearing the song’s midpoint, Meek opens up about the amount of violence he has had to victim. In his youth witnessing his best friend’s death and recently seeing fellow Philly native PnB Rock gunned down in Los Angeles. Rapping, “Like, what you slidin’ about? / don’t stand for nothin’ then what you dyin’ about / just seen my man died on the Gram, like, what is you cryin’ about,” Meek wants to emphasize most conflicts are connected to ego rather than a noble cause.

Before the record ends, Meek managed to take a dig at Ye (aka Kanye West). On the throwaway stanza, “Make a hundred million dollars and still go get my friends after / and that don’t go for everybody, just the only ones that bend backward for me / I will never sell my soul for money like I’m Kanye,” Meek is having a laugh at the former Yeezy brand owner’s expense.

The visual, directed by Benjamin Carter, is a highlight reel meant to inspire the viewer as it shows the rapper boarding a private plane, flashing wads of cash, and enjoying a meal in a luxurious mansion with his entourage.

Watch the full video above.

Flamerz 5 is out now. Listen to it here.

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.