Today is December 22 2015

National Date Nut Bread Day: More
Also on September 8. AKA: Date and walnut loaf, Originally from Scotland and traditionally made with dates and walnuts..

• Forefathers Day: More
  Celebrated mostly in New England from 1769. Also celebrated on Dec. 21. Commemorates the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

• Other
  • Mother's Day in Indonesia: More

• In 1882, The first string of Christmas tree lights are exhibited by Thomas Edison (1880) and Edward Johnson (1882).
  From Wikipedia: 'Christmas lights (also known informally as fairy lights) are lights used for decoration in preparation for Christmas and for display throughout Christmastide. The custom goes back to the use of candles to decorate the Christmas tree in Christian homes in early modern Germany. Christmas trees displayed publicly and illuminated with electric lights became popular in the early 20th century. By the mid-20th century, it became customary to display strings of electric lights as along streets and on buildings Christmas decorations detached from the Christmas tree itself. In the United States, it became popular to outline private homes with such Christmas lights in tract housing beginning in the 1960s. By the late 20th century, the custom had also been adopted in non-western countries / regions, notably in Japan and Hong Kong.
  
  In many countries, such as Sweden, people start to set up their Christmas lights, as well as other Christmas decorations, on the first day of Advent. In the Western Christian world, the two traditional days when Christmas lights are removed are Twelfth Night and Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations. Leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas is historically considered to be inauspicious.
  
  The Christmas tree was adopted in upper-class homes in 18th-century Germany, where it was occasionally decorated with candles, which at the time was a comparatively expensive light source. Candles for the tree were glued with melted wax to a tree branch or attached by pins. Around 1890, candleholders were first used for Christmas candles. Between 1902 and 1914, small lanterns and glass balls to hold the candles started to be used. Early electric Christmas lights were introduced with electrification, beginning in the 1880s.
  
  The illuminated Christmas tree became established in the United Kingdom during Queen Victoria's reign, and through emigration spread to North America and Australia. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner.. we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room. There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees". Until the availability of inexpensive electrical power in the early twentieth century, miniature candles were commonly (and in some cultures still are) used.
  
  In the United Kingdom, electrically powered Christmas lights are generally known as fairy lights. In 1881, the Savoy Theatre, London was the first building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity. Sir Joseph Swan, pioneer of the incandescent light bulb, supplied about 1,200 Swan incandescent lamps, and a year later, the Savoy owner Richard D'Oyly Carte equipped the principal fairies with miniature lighting supplied by the Swan United Electric Lamp Company, for the opening night of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Iolanthe on 25 November 1882. The term 'fairy lights', describing 'a small coloured light used in illuminations' had already entered English: its usage for a string of electrically powered Christmas lights has been common in the UK ever since.
  
  The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of today's Con Edison electric utility, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his Christmas tree, which was hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts, on December 22, 1882 at his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Local newspapers ignored the story, seeing it as a publicity stunt. However, it was published by a Detroit newspaper reporter, and Johnson has become widely regarded as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights. By 1900, businesses started stringing up Christmas lights behind their windows. Christmas lights were too expensive for the average person; as such, electric Christmas lights did not become the majority replacement for candles until 1930.
  
  In 1895, U.S. President Grover Cleveland proudly sponsored the first electrically lit Christmas tree in the White House. It was a huge specimen, featuring more than a hundred multicolored lights. The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of multiples of eight sockets by the General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey. Each socket took a miniature two-candela carbon-filament lamp.
  
  From that point on, electrically illuminated Christmas trees, but only indoors, grew with mounting enthusiasm in the United States and elsewhere. San Diego in 1904, Appleton, Wisconsin in 1909, and New York City in 1912 were the first recorded instances of the use of Christmas lights outside. McAdenville, North Carolina claims to have been the first in 1956. The Library of Congress credits the town for inventing "the tradition of decorating evergreen trees with Christmas lights dates back to 1956 when the McAdenville Men's Club conceived of the idea of decorating a few trees around the McAdenville Community Center." However, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has had "lights" since 1931, but did not have real electric lights until 1956. Furthermore, Philadelphia's Christmas Light Show and Disney's Christmas Tree also began in 1956. Though General Electric sponsored community lighting competitions during the 1920s, it would take until the mid-1950s for the use of such lights to be adopted by average households.
  
  Over a period of time, strings of Christmas lights found their way into use in places other than Christmas trees. Soon, strings of lights adorned mantles and doorways inside homes, and ran along the rafters, roof lines, and porch railings of homes and businesses. In recent times, many city skyscrapers are decorated with long mostly-vertical strings of a common theme, and are activated simultaneously in Grand Illumination ceremonies.
  
  In the mid-2000s, the video of the home of Carson Williams was widely distributed on the internet as a viral video. It garnered national attention in 2005 from The Today Show on NBC, Inside Edition and the CBS Evening News and was featured in a Miller television commercial. Williams turned his hobby into a commercial venture, and was commissioned to scale up his vision to a scale of 250,000 lights at a Denver shopping center, as well as displays in parks and zoos'.
  At Loc.gov: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1937, The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City. It goes under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) set of three tunnels under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. An integral conduit within the New York Metropolitan Area, it was designed by Norwegian-born civil engineer Ole Singstad and named after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. It is one of two automobile tunnels built under the river, the other being the Holland Tunnel. The Lincoln Tunnel carries a daily average of approximately 108,000 motor vehicles.
  
  The 8,216-foot (2,504-metre) center tube opened in 1937, followed by the 7,482-foot (2,281-metre) north tube in 1945. The 8,006-foot (2,440-metre) south tube was the last to open, in 1957.
  
  The tunnel is part of New Jersey Route 495 on the western half of the river, and the unsigned New York State Route 495 on the eastern half of the river.
  
  The tunnel was originally to be named Midtown Vehicular Tunnel, but the planners eventually decided that the new tunnel deserved a name that was of similar importance to that of the George Washington Bridge, and named it after Abraham Lincoln.
  
  Designed by Ole Singstad, the tunnel was funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration. Construction began on the first tube in March 1934. It opened to traffic on December 22, 1937, charging $0.50 per passenger car, equal to $8.24 today. The cost of construction was $85 million, equal to $1.51 billion today'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1932, The movie, The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff is released in the US. It is the 1st Mummy horror film.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Mummy is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Karl Freund. The screenplay by John L. Balderston was from a story by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Released by Universal Studios, the film stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron. The film is about an ancient Egyptian mummy named Imhotep who is discovered by a team of archeologists and inadvertently brought back to life through a magic scroll. Disguised as a modern Egyptian, the mummy searches for his lost love, whom he believes has been reincarnated into a modern girl'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (trailer): More
• In 1944, During the WW II's 'Battle of the Bulge', German troops demand the surrender of U.S. troops at Bastogne, Belgium. U.S. General Anthony McAuliffe replies 'Nuts!' to the demand. The American troupes were surrounded and low on food and ammunition, and in a harsh winter. The written German surrender note began with 'To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.', ended with 'The German Commander.' and in the middle the wording tried to paint a hopeless situation for the Americans. The written American reply began 'To the German Commander'. It ended 'The American Commander' and the contents was a single line with a single word 'NUTTS!'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1956, 'Colo' is the first gorilla born in captivity at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio.
  From Wikipedia: 'Colo (born December 22, 1956) is a western gorilla widely known as the first gorilla to be born in captivity anywhere in the world and as the oldest gorilla in captivity in the world. Colo was born at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to Millie Christina (mother) and Baron Macombo (father). She was briefly called Cuddles before a contest was held to officially name her. (Mrs. Howard Brannon of Zanesville, Ohio, won the contest.) Colo's name is derived from the place of her birth, Columbus, Ohio. Tomatoes are her favorite food'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1958, The song, The Chipmunk Song Christmas Don't Be Late), reaches #1.
  From Wikipedia: '"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a novelty Christmas song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian (in the form of a high-pitched chipmunk voice), the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictitious singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. The song won three Grammy Awards in 1958: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children's Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical)'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1964, The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) took place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Lockheed SR-71 (Blackbird) is a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by Lockheed and its Skunk Works division '. 'If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1984, Madonna's, Like a Virgin, single goes #1 for 6 weeks.
  From Wikipedia: '"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna. It is the title track from her second studio album Like a Virgin (1984), and was released on October 31, 1984, by Sire Records as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration (2009). It was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and produced by Nile Rodgers; Steinberg said that the song was inspired by his personal experiences of romance. "Like a Virgin" was chosen for Madonna by Michael Ostin of Warner Bros. Records after listening to a demo sung by Kelly. However, Rodgers initially felt that the song did not have a sufficient hook and was not suitable for Madonna, but subsequently changed his opinion after the hook was stuck in his mind.
  
  Musically "Like a Virgin" is a dance-oriented song, composed of two hooks. Madonna's voice is heard in a high register while a continuous arrangement of drums are heard along the bassline. The lyrics of the song are ambiguous and consist of hidden innuendo. In sexual terms, the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways for different people. "Like a Virgin" received positive reviews from contemporary as well as old critics, who frequently called it as one of the defining songs for Madonna. It became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, and Japan, and the top-ten of the other countries'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1989, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, and one of the best-known landmarks of Germany. It is built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.
  
  It is located in the western part of the city centre of Berlin within Mitte, at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building, which houses the German parliament (Bundestag). The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees, which led directly to the royal City Palace of the Prussian monarchs.
  
  It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791. Having suffered considerable damage in World War II, the Brandenburg Gate was restored from 2000 to 2002 by the Stiftung Denkmalschutz Berlin (Berlin Monument Conservation Foundation).
  
  During the post-war Partition of Germany, the gate was isolated and inaccessible immediately next to the Berlin Wall. The area around the gate was featured most prominently in the media coverage of the tearing down of the wall in 1989, and the subsequent German reunification in 1990.
  
  Throughout its existence, the Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today considered not only as a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

Tomorrow's food holiday will be 'National Date Nut Bread Day'. Also on September 8. AKA: Date and walnut loaf, Originally from Scotland and traditionally made with dates and walnuts..
[The Hankster says]: Great with a cup of coffee or a tall glass of cold milk. Banana Nut Bread is a close second.


Tomorrow is 'Forefathers Day', if you celebrate it on the 22nd instead of the 21st. . Celebrated mostly in New England from 1769. Also celebrated on Dec. 21. Commemorates the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620.


Awareness / Observance Days on: December 22
o Other
- ''Mother's Day in Indonesia'.


Historical events in the past on: December 22

In 1882, The first string of Christmas tree lights are exhibited by Thomas Edison (1880) and Edward Johnson (1882).'.

In 1937, The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City. It goes under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, New York City.'.

In 1932, The movie, The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff is released in the US. It is the 1st Mummy horror film.'.

In 1944, During the WW II's 'Battle of the Bulge', German troops demand the surrender of U.S. troops at Bastogne, Belgium. U.S. General Anthony McAuliffe replies 'Nuts!' to the demand. The American troupes were surrounded and low on food and ammunition, and in a harsh winter. The written German surrender note began with 'To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.', ended with 'The German Commander.' and in the middle the wording tried to paint a hopeless situation for the Americans. The written American reply began 'To the German Commander'. It ended 'The American Commander' and the contents was a single line with a single word 'NUTTS!'.'.

In 1956, 'Colo' is the first gorilla born in captivity at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio.'.

In 1958, The song, The Chipmunk Song Christmas Don't Be Late), reaches #1.'.

In 1964, The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) took place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. From Wikipedia: 'The Lockheed SR-71 (Blackbird) is a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by Lockheed and its Skunk Works division '. 'If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile'.'.

In 1984, Madonna's, Like a Virgin, single goes #1 for 6 weeks.'.

In 1989, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.'.

No. 1 song

• Taste of Honey - Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass: More
  'Let's Hang On!' has been displaced by 'Taste of Honey', which will hold the no. 1 spot until December 25 1965, when 'Over and Over - The Dave Clark Five', takes over.

Top movie

• A Patch of Blue More
  Having displaced 'That Darn Cat!', it will be there until the weekend box office of Dec 26 1965 when, 'Thunderball', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: December 22 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: December 22 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 22nd December More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 22nd December More
• On-This-day.com history 22nd December More
• On-This-day.com music history 22nd December More
• Wikipedia.com: History December 22 More

Monthly holiday / awareness days in December

Food
Buckwheat Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month

Health
Aids Awareness Month
Take a New Year's Resolution to Stop Smoking (TANYRSS) (12/17 - 2/7)

Other
Bingo's Birthday Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month
National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
National Tie Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
Operation Santa Paws (1-19)
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Universal Human Rights Month

December is:

December origin (from Wikipedia): ' December gets its name from the Latin word decem (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the Roman calendar, which began in March. The winter days following December were not included as part of any month. Later, the months of January and February were created out of the monthless period and added to the beginning of the calendar, but December retained its name. '

' December is the first month of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, December is the seasonal equivalent to June in the Northern hemisphere, which is the first month of summer. D ecember is the month with the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. '

December at Wikipedia: More

If you couldn't afford 90 cents for a movie ticket, 50 years ago, or your 45 RPM record player was broke, you might watch one of these shows on TV.
From this Wikipedia article: More

Best selling books of 1965 More

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: More
• NOAA: - National Hurricane Center - Atlantic Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook: More
• Listen to Old Radio Shows: (streaming mp3 with schedule) More
• NASA TV: (video feed) More
  NASA TV schedule: More
• Public Domain eBook Links

  Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More

• Podcast: A Moment of Science. Approximately 1 minute general science facts.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: The Naked Scientists. Current science, medicine, space and other science
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Podcast: Quirks & Quarks. Current science news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Articles and videos: Universe Today. Current space and astronomy news.
  Home page: More
  RSS: More
• Old Picture of the Day - "Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph."
  Home page: More
  RSS: More

Below, are listed several holiday sites that I reference in addition to other holiday researches.

US Government Holidays

• 2015 Postal Holidays More
• 2015 Official Federal Holidays More

Holidays Worldwide

• List of holidays by country More
• Holidays and Observances around the World More