Spreading Holiday Cheers

Get happy: World's happiest iPhone app lets users spread holiday joy

In early 2012, iPhone app developer Farhad Mohit — responsible for the well-known app Shopzilla — launched a new idea aimed at spreading cheer, and just in time for the holidays, comes an update that makes holiday cheer inescapable.

Cheers, the iOS app that spares no subtlety in its title, is a space for users to share the small things that make them, well, cheerful. This is done by posting “cheers” which can be anything, really. From appreciation for quirky Wes Anderson movies, which tend to make people cheerful in a bleak understated sort of way, to a category titled “Kids Going Crazy Over Random Things,” which is self-explanatory.

A recent holiday timed update adds a new facet to the experience through a series of unique “Cheerful Missions.” These missions are a great way to share with others just how happy the holiday season makes you, and an even better place to find sources of cheerful inspiration when you’re feeling more like Charlie Brown before his friends fixed up his Christmas tree.

Cheers aims to make people happy, and its addictive formula of browsing and sharing make that nearly certain.

The newly added features really are a visual expression of the app’s mission to become “a fun way to express love and appreciation for anyone, anything, anywhere.” A quick perusal through its clean interface and simple design make that goal abundantly clear: Cheers aims to make people happy, and its addictive formula of browsing and sharing make that nearly certain.

Cheers has been called “the world’s happiest iPhone app," and even after brief use, that superlative is difficult to argue against. Unlike Instagram, which carries with it the bleak antiquity of sepia tone filters, or Twitter, which is filled with bitter and cynical comedians, the cheer found through Cheers is pretty undeniable. And really, who would argue with that?

If this holiday season finds you down, a sure way to pick up the spirits is to navigate to the iTunes Store and download a free copy of Cheers. Spend some time looking at pets with reindeer antlers and children freaking out over video games and remember what the holidays are all about, even in a virtual sense. Happy Holidays and Cheers!

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Trash Talk

How to dispose of your Christmas tree — responsibly: Recycling the holidays madeeasy

The City of Houston and Living Earth will dispose of your Christmas tree forfree — just don't forget to remove the decorations, ornaments, tinsel, lightsand stands first.
Daily Photo
Photo courtesy of Houston Solid Waste Management Department

Christmas seemed to be over in a blink this year, so I have kept my tiny evergreen tree up in the dining room, decorated with mix-matched ornaments, to serve as a fragrant reminder that it is still — officially anyway — the holiday season.

As the drooping branches and dropping needles have proven, it can't stay this way much longer. Luckily, the City of Houston offers a free option for responsible disposal with the Residential Christmas Tree Recycling Program.

Houstonians can drop off their trees at one of 18 area locations between now and Jan. 8 (except New Year's Day), or can place their tree on the curb on a scheduled tree waste day (search by ZIP code here).

Rather than taking up valuable landfill space, the collected trees will be ground into mulch and made available in bulk from local retailers including Living Earth Technology, a Houston-based company that has been returning organic waste to beneficial reuse for more than 20 years.

Just don't forget to take the decorations off first.