<> Tomorrow's food holidays(s):
* 'National Date Nut Bread Day'. . Also on September 8. AKA: Date and
walnut loaf, Originally from Scotland and traditionally made with dates and
walnuts.
- From Wikipedia (Date and walnut loaf):
'Date and walnut loaf is a traditional cake eaten in Britain, made using
dates and walnuts. It is often made with treacle or tea to give it a dark
brown colour.
Traditionally from Scotland, date and walnut loaf is still enjoyed in many
tea rooms around the country. It is also enjoyed in cafes, bakeries and tea
rooms in New Zealand, a former dominion of Great Britain'.
[The Hankster says] One of my favorites. Date nut bread or cookies. I consider it like a coffee cake, so I will forgo my tall glass of cold milk for a hot cup of coffee.
<> Other holidays / celebrations
* 'National Re-Gifting Day'.
On the Thursday before Christmas.
- From Wikipedia (National Regifting Day):
'National Regifting Day is an annual observance held each year on the
Thursday before Christmas. Many office holiday parties are held on this
day, and research shows that 40 percent of office party gifts are
regifted—that is, something given to someone and then re-given to another
person without use.
On October 24, 2008, the state of Colorado declared December 18, 2008,
National Regifting Day, in an official proclamation issued by the state's
governor, Bill Ritter, Jr.. Money Management International made
NationalRegiftingDay.com and Regiftable.com to give people a fun way to
learn more about regifting dos and don'ts, and to start the conversation on
a topic many people are reluctant to discuss—holiday spending and financial
worries.
The idea of regifting was featured in a popular Seinfeld episode, wherein
the etiquette of re-gifting is discussed'.
[The Hankster says] Nice idea, but I whish I could get something besides that same old tie.
* 'Forefathers Day'.
Celebrated mostly in New England from 1769. It celebrates the Dec. 21
landing of the Mayflower. The 22nd is the celebration day, due to mistake
when the Gregorian calendar was adopted.
- From Wikipedia (Forefathers' Day):
'Fourfathers' Day is a holiday celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on
December 22. It is a commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in
Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 21, 1620. It was introduced in
Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1769.
Forefathers Day' is celebrated every year by the Old Colony Club,
established in 1769 ##34to honor the forefathers##45. The celebration
begins at 6:00 AM with a march by members to the top of Cole's Hill next to
Massasoit's statue, followed by a reading of a proclamation honoring the
forefathers and a ritual firing of the club's cannon.
The Old Colony Club and the Mayflower Society both include a succotash
dinner as part of their celebration. Sauquetash was recorded as a part of
the first Thanksgiving. Unlike later versions of succotash, in Plymouth
succotash is served as a broth containing large pieces of fowl and meat
that are sliced at the table.
When the 22nd falls on a Sunday, the Old Colony Club celebrates Forefathers
Day' on the following Monday.
There is some good-hearted dispute between the Old Colony Club and the
Mayflower Society. The simple fact of the celebration falling on separate
days permits members of both societies to participate in both celebrations.
In adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary was
erroneously established on December 22 instead of December 21'.
<> Awareness / Observances:None.
<> Historical events on December 22
* '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'.
* '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'.
* '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'.
* '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. .
- 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'.
* '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)'.
* '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. .
- 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'.
* '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'.
No. 1 song
Top movie
Monthly holiday / awareness days in December
Food
Buckwheat Month
Worldwide Food Service Safety Month
Health
Aids Awareness Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Animal and Pet
Operation Santa Paws
Other
National Tie Month
National Write A Business Plan Month
Universal Human Rights Month
Youngsters on The Air 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
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Sites for downloading or reading free Public Domain eBooks. Available in various formats. More