♫We Wish You a Merry Christmas…♫

December 25, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in Today's Reasons To Celebrate | Leave a comment

Happy Holly-daze

Good morning my weary Santas. Today is Sunday, December 25th. The holidays today are:

Christmas:

At long last, the hustle and bustle are over. Christmas has arrived whether you like it or not. It’s time to relax and enjoy the day with your loved ones. If you aren’t prepared, don’t worry, it’s too late to do anything about it now anyway. What’s done is done.
Contrary to the beliefs of some in our society, Christmas is still a Christian holiday, marking the birth of Jesus. It is a joyous occasion celebrated with loved ones near and far. The festivities often include a Christmas feast, gift exchanges, church celebrations, a visit from Santa Claus, and holiday parties. Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year, and it is celebrated in most countries around the world.  It has both a strong religious and traditional meaning. No matter how “commercialized” Christmas becomes, we should never forget the true meaning of the holiday. In case you have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, use this link, or your bible, to refresh your memory.
Factoid:  Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas carols and parties in England from 1649 to 1660.  He thought that Christmas should be a solemn holiday and the only celebrations should be church services. Obviously, it didn’t last too long as Christmas soon became a secular holiday.

No “L” Day or A’phabet Day

A’though the origins of No “L” Day or A’phabet Day are obscure, this ho’iday is a’most certain’y inspired by a Christmas card sent by A’fred Hitchcock to some of his friends in 1973. In his now famous Christmas card, Mr. Hitchcock merely wrote the words “A Very Happy”, then listed the letters of the alphabet in order; except omitting the letter “L”. Hence the card could be read as “A Very Happy Noel” (no “L”).
No “L” is obviously a pun on the word noel and No “L” Day or A’Phabet Day is a way of celebration for people who do not want to send traditional Christmas cards, but who still want to acknowledge the holidays and send greetings to their friends and family.
To celebrate this holiday, learn more about orthography – the part of language study concerned with letters and spelling.

National Pumpkin Pie Day  

National Pumpkin Pie Day, oddly enough, celebrates pumpkin pie. Pumpkin itself is a symbol of harvest and comes into season in the early fall. Pumpkin pie recipes were found in seventeenth-century English cookbooks and a century later pumpkin pie recipes began to appear in American cookbooks as well. Pumpkin pie became a familiar addition to holiday tables in the early seventeenth-century when early settlers brought it to America.
Pumpkin pie is one of America’s favorite pies and a perennial favorite around the holidays season; especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is also prominently featured at Halloween, although not in the form of a pie.
The pie consists of a pumpkin-based custard baked in a single pie shell. The pie is generally flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger.

On this date in  

• 0800 – Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III.
• 1066 – William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.
• 1223 – St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy.
• 1776 – Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ.
• 1818 – “Silent Night” was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.
• 1868 – President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.
• 1894 – The University of Chicago became the first Midwestern football team to play on the west coast. U.C. defeated Stanford, 24-4, in Palo Alto, CA.
• 1896 – John Philip Sousa finally titled the melody “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
• 1914 – During World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial truce and even playing football together on the Western Front.
• 1917 – The play “Why Marry?” opened at the Astor Theatre in New York City. “Why Marry?” was the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize.
• 1926 – Hirohito became the emperor of Japan after the death of his father Emperor Taisho.
• 1930 – The Mt. Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid, New York opened to the public. It was the first bobsled track of international specifications to open in the United States.
• 1931 – Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera was “Hansel und Gretel” and was heard on the NBC network of stations.
• 1939 – “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, was read on CBS radio for the first time.
• 1941 – Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese.
• 1946 – W.C. Fields died at the age of 66.
• 1971 – The longest pro-football game to date finally ended when Garo Yepremian kicked a field goal in the second quarter of sudden death overtime. The Miami Dolphins defeated Kansas City, 27-24. The total game time was 82 minutes and 40 seconds.
• 1972 – The Nicaraguan capital Managua was hit by an earthquake. Over 10,000 people were killed.
• 1979 – The USSR invaded Afghanistan in a bid to halt civil war and protect USSR interests.
• 1989 – Former baseball player and manager Billy Martin died in a truck crash in Fenton, NY.
• 1989 – Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.
• 1991 – Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.
• 1998 – Seven days into their journey, Richard Branson, Steve Fossett and Per Lindstrand of Sweden gave up their attempt to make the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight. They ditched near Hawaii.
• 2000 – Over 300 people were killed and dozens were injured by fire at a Christmas party in the Chinese city of Luoyang. The incident occurred at the Dongdu Disco.

Noteworthy Birthdays  

• Sir Isaac Newton 1642 – Physicist, mathematician.
• Clara Barton 1821 – Nurse, teacher, humanitarian.
• Conrad Hilton 1887 – Entrepreneur. (founded the Hilton hotel chain)
• Robert Ripley 1893 – Cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist. (created Ripley’s Believe It or Not!)
• Humphrey Bogart 1899 – Actor.
• Cab Calloway III 1907 – Jazz singer, bandleader.
• Tony Martin 1914 – Singer
• Anwar Sadat 1918 – Egyptian politician.
• Rod Serling 1924 – Screenwriter, producer, narrator. (The Twilight Zone)
• Dick Miller 1928 – Actor
• Chris Kenner 1929 – Singer, songwriter.
• O’Kelly Isley 1937 – Musician. (The Isley Brothers)
• Henry Vestine 1944 – Musician. (Canned Heat)
• Ken Stabler 1945 – Football quarterback.
• Gary Sandy 1945 – Actor.
• Noel Redding 1945 – Musician. (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
• Larry Csonka 1946 – Football fullback.
• Jimmy Buffett 1946 – Singer, songwriter.
• Barbara Mandrell 1948 – Country singer.
• Sissy Spacek 1949 – Actress
• Steve Wariner 1954 – Country Singer.
• Annie Lennox 1954 – Singer. (Eurythmics)
• Klea Scott 1968 – Actress.
• Noel Hogan 1971 – Musician. (The Cranberries)