Today is December 26 2015

National Candy Cane Day: More
From Wikipedia: 'According to folklore, in 1670, in Cologne, Germany, the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral, wishing to remedy the noise caused by children in his church during the Living Crèche tradition of Christmas Eve, asked a local candy maker for some sweet sticks for them. In order to justify the practice of giving candy to children during worship services, he asked the candy maker to add a crook to the top of each stick, which would help children remember the shepherds who paid visit to infant Jesus. In addition, he used the white colour of the converted sticks to teach children about the Christian belief in the sinless life of Jesus. Germany, the candy canes spread to other parts of Europe, where they were handed out during plays reenacting the Nativity. As such, according to this legend, the candy cane became associated with Christmastide'.

• Kwanzaa : More
  From Wikipedia: 'Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga, and was first celebrated in 1966–67.'.
• Boxing Day: More
  From Wikipedia: 'Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a 'Christmas box', from their bosses or employers, in the United Kingdom, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Bermuda, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and other former British colonies. Today, Boxing Day is the bank holiday that generally takes place on 26 December'.
• National Thank-you Note Day: More
  The gift giving is not over. Remember to to give the gift of a thank you for what you received.
• National Whiner’s Day: More
  Created in 1986 by Kevin Zaborney created, as a day to get the negative out of your system and to focus on the positive things for which you should be thankful.

• Other
  • Father's Day in Bulgaria: More

• In 1846, Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
  From Wikipedia: 'The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner-Reed Party) was a group of American pioneers led by George Donner and James F. Reed who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Some of the migrants resorted to cannibalism to survive.'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1862, Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover become the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
  From Wikipedia: 'USS Red Rover (1861) was a 650-ton Confederate States of America steamer that the United States Navy captured. After refitting the vessel, the Union used it as a hospital ship during the American Civil War.
  
  Red Rover became the U.S. Navy’s first hospital ship, serving the Mississippi Squadron until the end of the American Civil War. Her medical complement included nurses from the Catholic order Sisters of the Holy Cross, the first female nurses to serve on board a Navy ship. In addition to caring for and transporting sick and wounded men, she provided medical supplies to Navy ships along the Western Rivers.
  
  In September 1862, Red Rover — still legally under the jurisdiction of an Illinois prize court — was sent to Cairo, Illinois, to be winterized. The Navy purchased her on the 30th. The next day, the Union transferred the vessels of the Western Flotilla, with their officers and men, to the Navy Department to serve as the Mississippi Squadron under acting Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter. The Navy Medical Department of Western Waters was organized at the same time under Fleet Surg. Edward Gilchrist.
  
  In December Red Rover, used during the fall to alleviate crowded medical facilities ashore, was ready for service on the river. On the 26th, she was commissioned under the command of Acting Master William R. Wells, USN. Her complement was 47, while her medical department, remaining under Assistant Surgeon Bixby, was initially about 30. Of that number, three were Sisters of the Order of the Holy Cross, later joined by a fourth member of their order and assisted by lay nurses' aides. These women were the forerunners of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. The Western Sanitation Commission, which also donated over $3,000 worth of equipment to the ship, coordinated the work of these and other volunteers.
  
  In December 1862, Fleet Surg. Ninian A. Pinckney relieved Fleet Surg. Gilchrist. Pinckney imposed such strict standards on the department's day-to-day activities and ran them so well run from his headquarters in Red Rover that by 1865, he was able to claim
  
  "there is less ... sickness in the Fleet than in the healthiest portion of the globe'."
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1865, The coffee percolator patented by James H. Nason of Franklin, MA.
  From Wikipedia: 'A coffee percolator is a type of pot used for complex brewing of coffee by continually cycling the boiling or nearly boiling brew through the grounds using gravity until the required strength is reached.
  
  Coffee percolators once enjoyed great popularity but were supplanted in the early 1970s by automatic drip coffee makers. Percolators often expose the grounds to higher temperatures than other brewing methods, and may recirculate already brewed coffee through the beans. As a result, coffee brewed with a percolator is susceptible to over-extraction. Percolation may remove some of the volatile compounds in the beans, resulting in a pleasant aroma during brewing, but a less flavoursome cup. However, percolator enthusiasts praise the percolator's hotter, more 'robust' coffee, and maintain that the potential pitfalls of this brewing method can be eliminated by careful control of the brewing process.
  
  The percolating coffee pot was invented by the American-born British physicist and soldier Count Rumford, otherwise known as Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814). He invented a percolating coffee pot between 1810 and 1814 following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he improved the soldiers' diet as well as their clothing. It was his abhorrence of alcohol and his dislike for tea that led him to promote the use of coffee for its stimulating benefits. For his efforts, in 1791, he was named a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and granted the formal title of Reichsgraf von Rumford. His pot did not use the rising of boiling water through a tube to form a continuous cycle.
  
  The first modern percolator incorporating these features and capable of being heated on a kitchen stove was invented a few years later, in 1819, by the Parisian tinsmith Laurens. Its principle was then often copied and modified. There were also attempts to produce closed systems, in other words "pressure cookers".
  
  The first US patent for a coffee percolator, which however still used a downflow method without rising steam and water, was issued to James Nason of Franklin, Massachusetts, in 1865.
  
  Finally, an Illinois farmer named Hanson Goodrich patented the modern U.S. stove-top percolator as it is known today, and he was granted patent 408707 on August 16, 1889. It has the key elements, the broad base for boiling, the upflow central tube and a perforated basket hanging on it. He still describes the downflow as being the "percolating." Goodrich's design could transform any standard coffee pot of the day into a stove-top percolator. Subsequent patents have added very little'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1878, John Wanamaker installed electric lights in his department store in Philadelphia.
  From Wikipedia: 'Innovation and 'firsts' marked Wanamaker's. The store was the first department store with electrical illumination (1878), first store with a telephone (1879), and the first store to install pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents (1880)'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1933, The FM radio is patented.
  From Wikipedia: 'Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – January 31, 1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, best known for developing FM (frequency modulation) radio. He held 42 patents and received numerous awards, including the first Medal of Honor awarded by the Institute of Radio Engineers (now IEEE), the French Legion of Honor, the 1941 Franklin Medal and the 1942 Edison Medal. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and included in the International Telecommunication Union's roster of great inventors.
  
  "Static" interference — extraneous noises caused by sources such as thunderstorms and electrical equipment — bedeviled early radio communication using amplitude modulation (AM) and perplexed numerous inventors attempting to eliminate it. Many ideas for static elimination were investigated, with little success. In the mid-1920s, Armstrong began researching whether he could come up with a solution. He Initially, and unsuccessfully, attempted to resolve the problem by modifying the characteristics of existing AM transmissions.
  
  One approach considered as a potential solution had been the use of frequency modulation (FM) transmissions, where, in order to encode audio, instead of varying (technically known as "modulating") the amplitude (strength) of a radio signal, as was done for AM transmissions, the frequency was varied. However, in 1922 John Renshaw Carson of AT and T, inventor of Single-sideband modulation (SSB), had published a Proceedings of the IRE paper which included a detailed mathematical analysis which showed that FM transmissions did not provide any improvement over AM. Although the Carson bandwidth rule for FM is still important today, this review turned out to be incomplete, because it only analyzed what is now known as "narrow-band" FM.
  
  In early 1928 Armstrong began researching the capabilities of frequency modulation. Although there were few others involved in FM research at this time, he did have knowledge of a project being conducted by RCA engineers, who were investigating whether FM shortwave transmissions were less susceptible to fading than AM. In 1931 these engineers conducted a successful FM shortwave link transmitting the Schmeling-Stribling fight broadcast from California to Hawaii, and noted at the time that the signals seemed to be less affected by static, but the project made little further progress.
  
  Working in secret in the basement laboratory of Columbia's Philosophy Hall, Armstrong slowly developed what eventually resulted in wide-band FM, in the process discovering significant advantages over the earlier "narrow-band" FM transmissions. He was granted five U.S. patents covering the basic features of new system on December 26, 1933. Initially, the primary claim was that his FM system was effective at filtering out the noises produced in receivers by vacuum-tubes.
  
  Armstrong had a standing agreement to give RCA the right of first refusal to his patents. In 1934 he made a presentation of his new system to RCA president Sarnoff. Sarnoff was somewhat taken aback by its complexity, as he had hoped it would be possible to eliminate static merely by adding a simple device to existing receivers. From May 1934 until October 1935 Armstrong conducted field tests of his FM technology from an RCA laboratory located on the 85th floor of the Empire State Building in New York City. An antenna attached to the building's spire transmitted signals for distances up to 80 miles (130 km). These tests helped demonstrate FM's static-reduction and high-fidelity capabilities. However RCA, which was heavily invested in perfecting television broadcasting, chose not to invest in FM, and instructed Armstrong to remove his equipment.
  
  Denied the marketing and financial clout that RCA would have brought, Armstrong decided to finance his own development and form ties with smaller members of the radio industry, including Zenith and General Electric, to promote his invention. Armstrong thought that FM had the potential to replace AM stations within 5 years, which he promoted as a boost for the radio manufacturing industry, then suffering from the effects of the Great Depression, since making existing AM radio transmitters and receivers obsolete would necessitate that stations buy replacement transmitters and listeners purchase FM-capable receivers. In 1936 he published a landmark paper in the Proceedings of the IRE that documented the superior capabilities of using wide-band FM. (This paper would be reprinted in the August 1984 issue of Proceedings of the IEEE.) A year later, a paper by Murray G. Crosby (inventor of Crosby system for FM Stereo) in the same journal provided further analysis of the wide-band FM characteristics, and introduced the concept of "threshold", demonstrating that there is a superior signal to noise ratio when the signal is stronger than a certain level'.
  - At FamousDaily: More
  - At Wikipedia: More
• In 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
  From Wikipedia: 'On October 6, 1941, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the holiday beginning in 1942. However, in December of that year the Senate passed an amendment to the resolution that split the difference by requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was usually the last Thursday and sometimes (two years out of seven, on average) the next to last. The amendment also passed the House, and on December 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1944, During World War II, George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
  From Wikipedia: 'Liberated by the Allies in September 1944, Bastogne was attacked by German forces a few months later. Hitler's idea was to regain control of the Ardennes, splitting British from American forces, then advance to and reoccupy the strategic port of Antwerp and cut off the key Allied supply line. On December 16, taking advantage of cold and fog, German artillery initiated the Battle of the Bulge attacking the American divisions deployed sparsely around Bastogne. A few days later, Brigadier General McAuliffe and the 101st Airborne Division along with elements of the 10th Armored Division (United States) and the 82nd Airborne Division, arrived to counter-attack but, after heavy fighting, became encircled within the town. On December 22, German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which the General answered tersely, “Nuts!” The next day the skies cleared, allowing Allied air forces to retaliate and to drop much needed food, medicine, and weaponry to ground forces. On December 26, the Third U.S. Army under the command of General Patton arrived and broke the deadlock. The official end of the Battle of Bastogne occurred three weeks later, when all fighting in the area ceased.
  
  Bastogne is the terminus of the Liberty Road (France), the commemorative way that marks the path of liberating Allied forces, and of the Third Army that subsequently relieved Bastogne'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1954, The Shadow, airs for the last time on radio.
  From Wikipedia: 'Street and Smith entered into a new broadcasting agreement with Blue Coal in 1937, and that summer Gibson teamed with scriptwriter Edward Hale Bierstadt to develop the new series. The Shadow returned to network airwaves on September 26, 1937, over the new Mutual Broadcasting System. Thus began the 'official' radio drama, with 22-year-old Orson Welles starring as Lamont Cranston, a 'wealthy young man about town'. Once The Shadow joined Mutual as a half-hour series on Sunday evenings, the program did not leave the air until December 26, 1954'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1963, The Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and 'I Saw Her Standing There' are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.
  From Wikipedia: '"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment.
  
  With advance orders exceeding one million copies in the United Kingdom, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" would have gone straight to the top of the British record charts on its day of release (29 November 1963) had it not been blocked by the group's first million seller "She Loves You", their previous UK single, which was having a resurgence of popularity following intense media coverage of the group. Taking two weeks to dislodge its predecessor, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" stayed at number one for five weeks and remained in the UK top fifty for twenty-one weeks in total.
  
  It was also the group's first American number one, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number forty-five and starting the British invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February it held the number-one spot, and stayed there for seven weeks before being replaced by "She Loves You", a reverse scenario of what had occurred in Britain. It remained on the US charts for a total of fifteen weeks. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 44th biggest hit of "all-time" on the Billboard Hot 100 charts'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube (I Want To Hold Your Hand): More
  - On YouTube (I Saw Her Standing There): More
• In 1982, Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
  From Wikipedia: 'Person of the Year (called Man of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time that features and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that "for better or for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year".
  
  Despite the name, the title is not just granted to individuals. Pairs of people such as married couples and political opponents, classes of people, the computer ("Machine of the Year" in 1982), and "Endangered Earth" ("Planet of the Year" in 1988) have all been selected for the special year-end issue'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
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• In 1986, The TV soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, was seen for the last time on CBS-TV. The show had been on the air for 35-years.
  From Wikipedia: 'Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera that aired on CBS from September 3, 1951 to March 26, 1982, and on NBC from March 29, 1982 to December 26, 1986. At the time of its final broadcast, it was the longest-running non-news program on television.'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 1991, The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
  From Wikipedia: 'Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991, Russia was internationally recognized as its legal successor on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed overseas Soviet properties as its own. Under the 1992 Lisbon Protocol, Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since then, the Russian Federation has assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More
• In 2004, A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.
  From Wikipedia: 'The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on 26 December with the epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The shock had a moment magnitude of 9.1–9.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The undersea megathrust earthquake was caused when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000–280,000 people in 14 countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
  
  It is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph and had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimetre (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. Its epicentre was between Simeulue and mainland Indonesia. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than US$14 billion (2004) in humanitarian aid. The event is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami was given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, the Christmas tsunami and the Boxing Day tsunami'.
  - At Wikipedia: More
  - On YouTube: More

Tomorrow's food holiday will be 'National Candy Cane Day'. From Wikipedia: 'According to folklore, in 1670, in Cologne, Germany, the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral, wishing to remedy the noise caused by children in his church during the Living Crèche tradition of Christmas Eve, asked a local candy maker for some sweet sticks for them. In order to justify the practice of giving candy to children during worship services, he asked the candy maker to add a crook to the top of each stick, which would help children remember the shepherds who paid visit to infant Jesus. In addition, he used the white colour of the converted sticks to teach children about the Christian belief in the sinless life of Jesus. Germany, the candy canes spread to other parts of Europe, where they were handed out during plays reenacting the Nativity. As such, according to this legend, the candy cane became associated with Christmastide'. he Hankster says] I like to stir my tea with one for the mint flavor. Others must like my idea also, since they always seem to disappear before long.


For some it is 'Boxing Day' tomorrow. From Wikipedia: 'Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a 'Christmas box', from their bosses or employers, in the United Kingdom, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Bermuda, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and other former British colonies. Today, Boxing Day is the bank holiday that generally takes place on 26 December'. [The Hankster says] I am always willing to get more gifts. I am currently looking up my ancestry to determine if I have some British in me.

You just thought Christmas was over. Tomorrow is 'National Thank-you Note Day'. The gift giving is not over. Remember to to give the gift of a thank you for what you received. [The Hankster says] Thank you.

Continuing right along. Tomorrow is 'National Whiner’s Day'. Created in 1986 by Kevin Zaborney created, as a day to get the negative out of your system and to focus on the positive things for which you should be thankful. [The Hankster says] I have little to gripe about, especially if I find a British ancestor.


Awareness / Observance Days on: December 26
o Other
- 'Father's Day in Bulgaria'.

- ' Kwanzaa '. From Wikipedia: 'Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga, and was first celebrated in 1966–67.'.


Historical events in the past on: December 26

In 1846, Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism. From Wikipedia: 'The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner-Reed Party) was a group of American pioneers led by George Donner and James F. Reed who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Some of the migrants resorted to cannibalism to survive.'.

In 1862, Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover become the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship. From Wikipedia (Union Navy’s Mississippi operating area): In December Red Rover, used during the fall to alleviate crowded medical facilities ashore, was ready for service on the river. On the 26th, she was commissioned under the command of Acting Master William R. Wells, USN. Her complement was 47, while her medical department, remaining under Assistant Surgeon Bixby, was initially about 30. Of that number, three were Sisters of the Order of the Holy Cross, later joined by a fourth member of their order and assisted by lay nurses' aides. These women were the forerunners of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. The Western Sanitation Commission, which also donated over $3,000 worth of equipment to the ship, coordinated the work of these and other volunteers..

In 1865, The coffee percolator patented by James H. Mason of Franklin, MA. From Wikipedia: '... Hanson Goodrich patented the modern U.S. stove-top percolator as it is known today, and he was granted patent 408707 on August 16, 1889'.

In 1878, John Wanamaker installed electric lights in his department store in Philadelphia. From Wikipedia: 'Innovation and 'firsts' marked Wanamaker's. The store was the first department store with electrical illumination (1878), first store with a telephone (1879), and the first store to install pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents (1880)'.

In 1933, The FM radio is patented.

In 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

In 1944, During World War II, George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

In 1954, The Shadow, airs for the last time on radio. From Wikipedia: 'Street and Smith entered into a new broadcasting agreement with Blue Coal in 1937, and that summer Gibson teamed with scriptwriter Edward Hale Bierstadt to develop the new series. The Shadow returned to network airwaves on September 26, 1937, over the new Mutual Broadcasting System. Thus began the 'official' radio drama, with 22-year-old Orson Welles starring as Lamont Cranston, a 'wealthy young man about town'. Once The Shadow joined Mutual as a half-hour series on Sunday evenings, the program did not leave the air until December 26, 1954'.

In 1963, The Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and 'I Saw Her Standing There' are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

In 1982, Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.

In 1986, The TV soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, was seen for the last time on CBS-TV. The show had been on the air for 35-years. From Wikipedia: 'Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera that aired on CBS from September 3, 1951 to March 26, 1982, and on NBC from March 29, 1982 to December 26, 1986. At the time of its final broadcast, it was the longest-running non-news program on television.'.

In 1991, The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union. From Wikipedia: 'Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991, Russia was internationally recognized as its legal successor on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed overseas Soviet properties as its own. Under the 1992 Lisbon Protocol, Russia also agreed to receive all nuclear weapons remaining in the territory of other former Soviet republics. Since then, the Russian Federation has assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations'.

In 2004, A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.

No. 1 song

• Over and Over - The Dave Clark Five: More
  'Taste of Honey' has been displaced by 'Over and Over', which will hold the no. 1 spot until January 1 1965, when 'We Can Work It Out - The Beatles', takes over.

Top movie

• Thunderball More
  Having displaced 'A Patch of Blue', it will be there until the weekend box office of January 2 1965 when, 'Doctor Zhivago', takes over.

• FamousBirthdays.com: December 26 Birthdays More
• FamousDaily.com: December 26 History More
• History.com: Historical Events on 26th December More
• HistoryOrb.com: Famous Deaths on 26th December More
• On-This-day.com history 26th December More
• On-This-day.com music history 26th December More
• Wikipedia.com: History December 26 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