The Mother of All Santas

If you follow the news, you'd have known that on Thursday, December 15th which was yesterday, the Iraq War officially ended after a long nine year. The phrase "The Mother of All..." was popularized during this infamous Iraqui war by the now defunct President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, after his invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Bulletins to Iraqi citizens advised them to prepare for an invasion and "the Mother of All Battles" promised in a speech if the US-led coalition forces of one attempted to evict his army of occupation from Kuwait. The phrase "Mother of All Battles" was a translation of the Arabic expression "Umm al-Ma'arik." This is a common literary trope in Arabic public rhetoric. As Saddam's audience would have understood, it refers to the Battle of Al-Qādisiyyah in AD 637, when an Arab army defeated the Persians.

With that firmly in mind, now you understand the true meaning of the title of today's blog. You can't find another Santa that is larger than this one. Don't even think about trying! This Santa clearly says out loud that you can stop by to get your Christmas tree here at the intersection of SW 117th Avenue and 87th Street. I can safely ignore all this because I have a "Mother of All Fake Christmas Trees" that is at least 30 year old but still looks like a real tree every year.