~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 18th

★~ Today’s: Quote: “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” Alan Watts

★~ Wear a plunger on your Head Day:

El Morno friend Cynthia has already sent out her Plunger on Your Head holiday cards and decorated! She overflows with enthusiasm for the day, so I asked her to plunge right in and share any information she has on how this day came in to being. Cynthia j said that there is something inherently funny about plungers—something that goes beyond pure potty humor, something about their clumsy shape and vaguely onomatopoetic appellation, coupled with the lack of romance to be found in their one true function. Well, that certainly clears a lot up. I asked El Morno friend Teresa if she would model a plunger for us, but she said as much as she appreciated the invitation to wear soiled, E. coli ridden head pieces, the rubber flattens her hair so she would have to pass this year.

Bandit, however, did agree to wear a plunger on his head for us.

★~ Bake Cookie Day:

“Just the thought of homemade cookies invokes that visceral, comforting thought of home, sweet home. Whether you came home like ‘The Beaver’ to a warm plate of cookies after school, or you pop refrigerated, ready-made dough into the oven late at night, fresh cookies just make a person feel warm and cozy . . . with milk, don’t forget the milk!” Emily Collins. If not today, then when?? There is nothing like the smell of home-baked cookies. Whether they are gingerbread or chocolate chip, frosted or fruity, cookies have a way of bringing people together. Just in time for the holiday season, today is Bake Cookies Day, so what are you waiting for…bake on!!

★~ National Roast Suckling Pig Day (or not) :

This meal is a little piglet, between 2 and 6 weeks old, that is roasted whole and served with its head still attached. If you can get past that, by all means, enjoy yourself today.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1912 – The Piltdown Man was presented to the Geological Society of London. Near the village of Piltdown in southern England, a laborer was digging in a gravel pit when he found a piece of what appeared to be a skull. He gave it to local archaeology hobbyist Charles Dawson, who thought it looked like some ancient human remains. Dawson brought the skull fragment, along with some other bones he found at the site, to the Natural History Museum in London. Dawson and Arthur Smith Woodward, the museum’s Keeper of Geology, believed that the laborer had dug up skeletal evidence of the missing evolutionary link between apes and humans, and they brought it before the public with much fanfare. Although several scientists weighed in with their opinion that the Piltdown skull was not authentic, no one paid much attention; they seemed to want to believe that the Missing Link had been found in England. Finally, in 1953, new tests on the skull revealed the Piltdown Man to be an elaborate hoax, constructed in part from orangutan bones, and this time, people listened.

The perpetrator of the hoax has never been determined with any certainty, although theories abound. The main suspect remains Charles Dawson, who enjoyed great celebrity as the discoverer of the most important fossil in human history.

♥~ 1936 – Su Lin arrived in San Francisco, California. She was the first giant panda to come to the U.S. from China. The bear was sold to the Brookfield Zoo for $8,750.

♥~ 1972 – Helen Reddy received a gold record for the song that became an anthem for women’s liberation, I Am Woman. The song had reached number one on December 9, 1972.

♥~ 1982 – Daryl Hall and John Oates reached the #1 spot on the music charts for the fifth time with Maneater. The song stayed in the top spot for four weeks, making it Hall and Oates’ most popular hit.

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1778 – Joseph Grimaldi clown: ‘father of clowns’, ‘greatest clown in history’, ‘king of pantomime’: Joey the Clown; singer, dancer, acrobat; died May 31, 1837

♥~ 1916 – Betty (Ruth Elizabeth) Grable the original ‘Pinup Girl’: actress: Whoopee!, Hold ’Em Jail, Probation, The Gay Divorcee, Follow the Fleet, College Swing, Down Argentine Way,Tin Pan Alley, Moon Over Miami, Song of the Islands, Springtime in the Rockies, Sweet Rosie O’Grady; her famous legs were insured by Lloyds of London for somewhere between a quarter million and a million dollars; died July 2, 1973

♥~ 1946 – Steven (Allan) Spielberg born in Cincinnati, Ohio (1946). His parents had a difficult marriage, and young Spielberg escaped the house during the day and made amateur movies with his father’s Super 8 camera. He made two films about World War II, and a movie about a UFO invasion, starring his sisters as victims. Steven Spielberg became famous with Jaws (1975),  and topped his success seven years later with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), about a young boy recovering from the breakup of his parents’ marriage when he befriends an alien left behind by his spaceship. The movie, E.T., became fourth-highest-grossing film of all time.

♥~ 1963 – Brad Pitt actor: 12 Monkeys, Seven, Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It, Thelma and Louise, Cutting Class, Head of the Class, Dallas, Twelve Monkeys, The Devil’s Own, Meet Joe Black, Fight Club, Ocean’s Eleven

♥~ 1978 – Katie Holmes actress: Dawson’s Creek, Wonder Boys, The Gift

♥~ 1980 – Christina Aguilera singer: Genie in a Bottle, LP: What a Girl Wants; actress: MMC

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ In 2010, consumers spent on average $740 on Christmas presents

♥~ The average holiday shopper will spend $107.50 on themselves.

♥~ In 2010, approximately 37.2% of Americans began holiday shopping by Halloween

♥~ There are roughly 1,175 malls in the United States, which generate $308 billion in annual sales

♥~Retail researchers note a “butt brush” effect, which means that when a customer’s personal space is invaded, he or she will leave, even if interested in the item.

♥~ On average, it takes five trips to the mall to complete all holiday shopping.

♥~The second most popular present after clothing  is gift cards., with an average $40 on each card.

♥~ The busiest shopping day of the year is the Saturday before Christmas.

♥~ When a salesperson asks a shopper which of several items she or he prefers, the shopper will often skip the question “Should I buy? and instead ask “Which one should I buy?

♥~All 364 items in the popular song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” would cost $96,824.

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Wishing you a very Merry Plunger On Your Head Day! Hope you have a cookie in both hands, but let’s just skip roasting any piglets…OK??  If you have an El Morno moment leave a comment…Odd Loves Company.