.COM How The Christmas Tree


Got It’s Angel On Top  You didn’t think we would fail to dredge up this classic, did you?


BY CARRIE DUNCAN


One Christmas season long ago and far away Santa was getting ready for his annual trip ... but there were problems every- where.


And as he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked under the load


Four of his elves called in sick, and the rookie elves could not produce the toys as fast as the old timers, so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being be- hind schedule.


trated, Santa went back into the house for


dollop of whiskey. But


cup of cof- fee forti- fied with a


a


December 19th


, 2011


Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the re- in- deer, he found that three of them were knocked up and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.


and the bag of toys fell to the ground, scattering toys everywhere.


Now thoroughly frus- PAID ADVERTISEMENT


when he looked into the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had got into the liquor and there was nothing left. In his frustra- tion, he lost his grip on the coffee pot and it fell to the floor, breaking into smitherings. Grabbing the broom to clean up the mess, he found that mice


Consumer Reports Judges Viking Range A Don’t Buy: Performance Problem


Consumer Reports has judged a $5,000 Viking gas range a Don't Buy: Performance Problem af- ter wiring connectors melted on the two models we tested. We first noticed the wiring issue when we ran the self-cleaning cycle on Viking’s 30-inch VGSC5304BSS gas range to break the unit in, something we always do for models with this fea- ture before we begin our testing. Sometime during that cycle, the first Viking range tripped an electri- cal circuit breaker in our lab and stopped working. We contacted Viking as any consumer would. An authorized service techni- cian the company sent found the melted wiring connector beneath the range and said it had caused an electrical short, making the range inoper- able. We chose the replace- ment unit at random from a local warehouse to be sure we were getting a repre- sentative sample. This one completed our self-cleaning break-in and several of our performance tests—until


our baking test, when subpar results and an oven burner that cycled on and off frequently suggested we investigate fur- ther.


Once again, we called for service. This time, another tech- nician informed us that the oven was functioning as intended. Yet he noticed another, different


VGSC5304BSS experi- enced the same type of problem, we’ve given it our Don’t Buy: Performance Problem judgment.


wiring connector that had par- tially melted but not shorted. The technician wrapped the connector in electrical tape and told us not to use the self-clean- ing feature until he had a chance to talk with the manufacturer. When we contacted a service representative for Viking she told us that she had never heard of that problem. Because two separate samples of the Viking


Even if this range didn’t malfunction, our initial tests indicate that you’d be left with a pricey range that’s just so-so at baking. If you already own one and ex- perience the same prob- lems we did, we recom- mend asking for a repair under the manufacturer’s three-year warranty (one year if bought before May 1, 2011). Want a pro-style range that did make our winner’s list? While no 30-inch pro models earn that distinc- tion in our latest range Ratings, we do recom- mend several 36-inch pro-style ranges, including dual-fuel models by KitchenAid and GE, and an all-gas model by Thermador. This report was cop-


ied from the Consumer Reports .org website, copy this link to your browser to read the ar- ticle at the site: http:// tinyurl.com/vikingcr. 


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great big Christmas tree. The angel said, very pos- sibly with just a tad too much cheer, “Merry Christmas Santa! Isn’t it just a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?”


Thus began the tradition of the little angel perched on top of the Christmas tree. 


had eaten the straw. Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cussed his way to the door.


He threw the door open with a mighty swoosh, and by golly, standing there was the cutest little angel with a


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