Today is...
Festivus!

Take this day and send a free digital eCard to air your grievances as you see fit!
Festivus is a holiday that was created by writer Dan O’Keefe as a way to celebrate the holiday season without buying into its commercialism. Festivus was immortalized when O’Keefe’s son wrote an episode about it for the popular TV show Seinfeld. The episode (called “The Strike”) aired on December 18, 1997. 
A traditional Festivus celebration includes a plain aluminum pole in lieu of a Christmas tree, the annual “Airing of Grievances,” the Festivus dinner, and “Feats of Strength.” The traditional Festivus greeting is “Happy Festivus” and the slogan of the holiday is “A Festivus for the rest of us!”
Watch part of the famous Seinfeld episode to celebrate this quirky occasion!

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Today is also Roots Day & National Pfeffernuesse Day

December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 23th 1888 - van Gogh cuts off lower part of left ear. 1954 - First human kidney transplant performed. 1986 - Voyager: first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world. 2007 -  Grand conjunction: solar system aligns with galactic center   2009 -  Police and protesters clash at memorial service for Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri. ______________________________________________________ "Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases." -- Jeremy Collier

Today is...
National Sangria Day!

This refreshingly fruity drink is the perfect cure for your winter blues. There are thousands of different variations of sangria that combine such ingredients as sliced fruit, honey, sugar, juice, carbonated soda, red or white wine, and other alcohols. Each combination changes the flavor, alcohol content, and carbonation of the sangria. 
Sangria is a popular drink at bars, pubs, and restaurants in Portugal, Spain, and Mexico, and at tapas restaurants in the United States. However, at one point, it was illegal to serve sangria in the state of Virginia! It violated an obscure 75-year-old law that did not allow the mixing of wine or beer with spirits. Violators of this law could be charged with a misdemeanor, a hefty fine, and up to a year in jail. It was not until 2008 that the Virginia General Assembly finally legalized the serving of sangria.
To celebrate National Sangria Day, conjure up your favorite sangria recipe to enjoy with friends and family!

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Today is also Go Caroling Day & National Fried Shrimp Day

December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 20th 1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts Knights of Rhodes' surrender, who evacuate & become Knights of Malta. 1699 - Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed-Sept 1 to Jan 1 1963 - Berlin Wall opens to West Berliners 1989 -  United States invasion of Panama.   2005 -  Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District ruling against "intelligent design". ______________________________________________________ "Failures to heroic minds are the stepping stones to success." -- Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Today is...
National Hard Candy Day!

Celebrate National Hard Candy Day! Who doesn't love a piece of hard candy now and again? Its sweet, sugary taste literally causes your mouth to water. Today is a celebration of all types of hard candies—everything from lollipops to candy canes to caramels. It's no wonder that hard candy has remained so popular all these years!
Hard candy can be traced back to Ancient Egypt, Arabia, and China. Archaeologists in all of these regions have found traces of “candied” fruits and nuts that had been dipped in honey, which is a preservative. There is also evidence that people stuck sticks into their candy treats to keep their hands from getting sticky as they ate them, just like our modern lollipops!
Did you know that the world's largest lollipop weighs 6,514 pounds? Ashrita Furman and members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre made it in August of 2009 to break the Guinness World Record. To celebrate National Hard Candy Day, enjoy a piece (or two) of your favorite hard candies!

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December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 19th 1918 - Robert Ripley began his Believe It or Not feature in The New York Globe. 1924 - The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England 1971 - Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" movie premieres 1983 -  The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.   1986 -  Michael Sergio, a 37 year-old man who parachuted into Game 6 of the World Series was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a $500 fine. ______________________________________________________ "Success is the child of audacity." -- Benjamin Disraeli

Today is...
National Bake Cookies Day!

Bake Cookies Day comes at an opportune time. It arrives amidst the major December holidays. It serves as a reminder to bake holiday cookies, if you haven't done so already.
People, young and old, celebrate this day by baking their favorite cookies. Make a party of it, and bake cookies in groups with family, friends, kids and grandkids. Don't stop at baking just one kind of cookies. Plan to bake a number of cookies. Try a new recipe, or two, or three, or....
If you bake more than you can eat, good for you! Wrap up gift trays filled with cookies for friends and neighbors. Most cookies freeze well, too.
Important Note: we are very surprised that Bake Cookies Day is not immediately followed by "Eat Cookies Day". We did not even find an Eat Cookies Day. So you can, and should, eat them everyday!.

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December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 18th 1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" ( yun), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China. 1892 - The first performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is held at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. 1956 - Japan admitted to UN 2009 -  Thirty world leaders present in Copenhagen for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change agree on a draft accord.   2009 -  The Arbeit macht frei sign is stolen from Auschwitz concentration camp. ______________________________________________________ "Doubt whom you will, but never yourself. -- Christian Nestell Bovee

Today is...
National Maple Syrup Day!

Maple syrup is a distinctly North American product. Canada, the largest supplier of maple syrup, produces over 5 million gallons of it each year!
Native Americans were the first to harvest and boil the sap of the maple tree into a thick syrup—a process that was documented and adopted by early settlers in the 1600s. Tapping a maple tree does no permanent damage to the tree and only 10% of the sap that is produced in a year is actually collected. Many maple trees have been tapped for 150 years or more! Did you know that it takes 30-50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup? Maple syrup can also be boiled down to produce maple cream, maple sugar, and maple sugar candy.
Whether you like your maple syrup as a topping on pancakes, waffles, or vanilla ice cream, enjoy some today in honor of National Maple Syrup Day!

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December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 17th 1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published. 1900 - First prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded-considered too easy 1955 - Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis. 1976 -  WTCG television station in Atlanta becomes WTBS, first satellite station to cover all of U.S.   1989 -  The premiere of The Simpsons. ______________________________________________________ "A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience." -- Elbert Hubbard

Today is...
Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Chocoholics, rejoice! Today is your opportunity to top everything that you eat with chocolate. Indulge in chocolate covered waffles for breakfast, chocolate covered crepes for lunch, chocolate covered pretzels for a snack, and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert! You can also get creative and experiment with more unusual dishes like beef tenderloin smothered in a rosemary, chocolate, and wine sauce.
There are many different types of chocolate that you can use to top your food: sweetened, unsweetened, bittersweet, semisweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, cocoa, and more. Fun fact: Cacao beans, the main ingredient in chocolate, were so valuable in the ancient Mayan and Aztec civilizations that they were used as currency to pay for commodities and taxes!
Cover your food in chocolate today, and, in spirit of the holiday season, share some of your chocolate covered treats with your friends and family. Enjoy!

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Today is also Boston Tea Party

December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 16th 1497 - Vasco da Gama travels around the Cape of Good Hope. 1653 - Oliver Cromwell is named lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. 1707 - Mount Fuji's last recorded volcanic eruption in Japan 1773 -  The Boston Tea Party: Disguised members of the Sons of Liberty dump crates of tea into Boston harbor to protest the Tea Act.   1916 -  Gregory Rasputin, a monk with considerable influence over the Russian court, is murdered by noblemen. ______________________________________________________ "A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus." -- Herbert Hoover

Today is...
National Cocoa Day!

Nothing warms you up better on a cold winter day than a nice cup of hot cocoa! Cocoa (the dried, fully fermented seeds of the cacao tree) is the basis for cocoa powder, which is used to make the hot cocoa beverage we all know and love. Did you know that monkeys were the first creatures to discover that the cacao plant was edible and quite tasty? Over 1500 years ago, monkeys began to consume the pulp of the plant and spit out the beans. Humans soon began to follow the monkey's example and the rest is history.
Cacao trees are grown all over the world, but it is believed that the first cacao trees grew in South America. Cocoa is similar to wine in that its flavor differs depending on the location where it is grown. It's a good thing that cacao trees are plentiful because approximately 300 to 600 cocoa beans are needed to make just two pounds of chocolate!
To celebrate National Cocoa Day, make your favorite type of cocoa to enjoy. For a holiday twist on a traditional cup of cocoa, try adding a candy cane!

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December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 13th 1642 - New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman 1769 - Dartmouth College is founded. 1928 - George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres (New York NY) 1971 -  John Sinclair (sentence: 10 yrs, sold 2 marijuana joints) is freed   2003 -  Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit. ______________________________________________________ "They can because they think they can." -- Virgil

Today is...
National Poinsettia Day!

Celebrate National Poinsettia Day! The poinsettia is a blossoming plant with beautiful red and green foliage, which makes it a very popular decoration during the holiday season. Although it is native to Mexico, 90% of all poinsettias are exported from the United States. The Aztecs considered poinsettias a symbol of purity because of their brilliant red color.
Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, introduced these gorgeous flowers to the United States in the 1820s. While visiting Taxco, Poinsett found the flowers growing on a hillside and sent some of them to his home in South Carolina. The flowers grew well in his greenhouse and Poinsett began distributing them. The name “poinsettia” soon became the accepted name of the flower in English-speaking countries.
To celebrate National Poinsettia Day, purchase a beautiful poinsettia plant for a friend or for yourself!

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December is National Fruit Cake Month & National Egg Nog Month

images and text courtesy of MyPunchbowl.com" -- http://www.mypunchbowl.com/

History for December 12th 0627 - Battle of Nineveh: Byzantines vs. Persia 1913 - The "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911, recovered 1914 - The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%. 1963 -  Number one hit on UK music charts - The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand   1964 -  Shooting starts for "Star Trek" pilot "The Cage" (shown in 1988 in a two-part episode "The Menagerie"). ______________________________________________________ "Dream big and dare to fail." -- Norman Vaughan