Joel Strasser of Kuna, ID took Christmas decorations to a new level, earning himself a page in the Guinness Book of World Records, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC]. He did it by decorating his beard with 710 Christmas baubles, knickknacks and ornaments. It is the fourth time in four successive years that he’s been honored by the Guinness judges. In 2019 he set the record with 302 baubles, in 2020 he did it again with 542 ornaments and last year he managed to adorn his whiskers using 686 festive knickknacks. His secret: “My technique has evolved and gotten a lot more specialized over the years that I’ve been breaking the record.  I stuck them in a lot more haphazardly at first and that’s why those first beard bauble record numbers were so low … I found that if I take my time and really focus on the individual strands of beard hair and small groups of hair, I can manage to fit so many more in there.”

###

A Hanukkah menorah of biblical proportions

While Christians celebrated Christmas this year, the Jewish population of the U.S. observed the seven day festival of Hanukkah lighting the seven candles of their menorahs. The Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] reports that Rabbi Yonaton Nuszen and 425 Jewish teens in Denver, CO celebrated the festival by creating a potentially record breaking menorah. They built it using 25,000 LEGO pieces. It stood 24 and a half feet tall. But Rabbi Yonaton said “It’s not about the height – it’s about the unity it created.  Our entire Jewish community came together to build this mammoth of a LEGO menorah.”

###

A Christmas story

And then there was the holiday home invasion that occurred in Waxhaw, NC, the invader being a cute little squirrel, says the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC]. The homeowner, Taylor Stading, suspects it found its way into the house via a loose roof shingle. The squirrel led Stading and her family on a merry chase as it sought to settle in the branches of the family Christmas tree. Eventually she used a dust mop to help the critter exit the premises via an open window. It was all caught on video, providing the family with their own, very funny version of the classic Chevy Chase film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

###