~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 26

★~ Today’s Quote: “I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.” ~  Buddy in Elf

★~ Boxing Day:

It’s a holiday with presents that have already been opened and a dinner that has been eaten. It’s a holiday best spent lounging around in brightly colored sweaters, wondering, lazily and lethargically, what to do next.

★~ Kwanzaa:

The week-long celebration for Kwanzaa begins today! This holiday was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 to honor African American heritage. It reflects upon and celebrates seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Each day of the celebration, a candle is lit in a Kinara. Today, on the first day of Kwanzaa, a black candle is lit to symbolize the people. To the left of the black candle are three red candles, representing the people’s struggles. To the right of the black candle are three green candles, symbolizing the people’s hope for the future. The candles are lit from left to right, one candle for each day of the celebration.

★~ Thank You Note Day: 

Think about writing a few thank you notes, as you lounge in brightly colored sweaters sipping a little egg nog. Remember the hardest part is starting.

★~ Candy Cane Day:

Two billion candy canes, about $214 million worth, were purchased this holiday season by consumers with a sweet tooth.  The original candy cane did not have stripes.  Before the red stripe was introduced, a candy cane was simply a white, mint-flavored stick. Decorating the tree with candy canes became fashionable during the 1850s when a resident of Ohio, August Imgard, hung them on a Christmas tree to augment his homemade decorations. The modern candy cane was invented by Bob McCormack of Atlanta.  He started the curved candy trend sometime in the early 1920’s with handmade versions.Each year 1.76 billion candy canes are made — enough to stretch from Santa Clause, IN to North Pole, AK and back again 32 times. Candy canes were once considered “medicine”.  The soothing peppermint and sugar combo was used as a pacifier for children. Other flavors – including anise and cinnamon – were used by apothecaries to help soothe and calm their patients. The world’s largest candy cane was created by Paul Ghinelli and measured 58 feet 2 1/4 inches. If you are looking for ways to creatively use your leftover candy canes, here’s a video ^ to give you some helpful tips

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1865 –James H. Mason of Franklin, MA patented the coffee percolator that makes coffee good to the last drop!

♥~ 1969 – The cover of LIFE Double Issue profiled the 1960s “Decade of Tumult and Change.”

♥~ 1977 –Anita Bryant was named one of People magazine’s 25 Most Intriguing People of 1977. U.S. President Jimmy Carter topped the list.

♥~ 1981 – AC/DC’s album, For Those About to Rock We Salute You was #1 in the U.S. for the first of three weeks. The tracks on the album were: For Those About To Rock (We Salute You), Put the Finger on You, Let’s Get It Up, Inject the Venom, Snowballed, Evil Walks, C.O.D., Breaking the Rules, Night of the Long Knives and Spellbound.

♥~ 1982 –The Man of the Year in TIME magazine was a non-human for the first time. A computer received the honors as 1982’s “greatest influence for good or evil.”

★~ Born Today:

♥~ 1933 –  Caroll Spinney, Actor, Big Bird on “Sesame Street”

♥~ 1935 – Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir singer: group: The Four Tops

♥~ 1945 – John Walsh TV host: America’s Most Wanted; actor: Wrongfully Accused; his six-year-old son Adam was kidnapped and murdered in Florida in 1981; co-founder: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; author: Tears Of Rage, No Mercy, Public Enemies)

♥~ 1963 – Lars Ulrich musician: drums: group: Metallica: LPs: Kill ’Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, …And Justice for All, Metallica or [Black Album], Load,Reload, Garage Inc.

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The best clue to Boxing Day’s origins can be found in the song “Good King Wenceslas.” According to the Christmas carol, Wenceslas, who was Duke of Bohemia in the early 10th century, was surveying his land on St. Stephen’s Day — Dec. 26 — when he saw a poor man gathering wood in the middle of a snowstorm. Moved, the King gathered up surplus food and wine and carried them through the blizzard to the peasant’s door. T

♥~ The alms-giving tradition has always been closely associated with the Christmas season  but King Wenceslas’ good deed came the day after Christmas, when the English poor received most of their charity.

♥~ The day after Christmas was also the traditional day on which the aristocracy distributed presents (boxes) to servants and employees. The servants returned home, opened their boxes and had a second Christmas on what became known as Boxing Day.

♥~ Today’s Boxing Day festivities revolve around food, football (soccer), visits from friends, food and drinking at the pub.

♥~ Boxing Day has been a national holiday in Australia, England, Wales, Ireland and Canada since 1871. For years in which the holiday falls on a weekend, the celebration is moved to make sure workers still get a day off (except in Canada, where it remains Dec. 26)

♥~ The Irish still refer to the holiday as St. Stephen’s Day, and they have their own tradition called hunting the wren, in which boys fasten a fake wren to a pole and parade it through town. Also known as Wren Day, the tradition supposedly dates to 1601, to the Battle of Kinsale, in which the Irish tried to sneak up on the English invaders but were betrayed by the song of an overly vocal wren.

♥~ The Bahamas celebrate Boxing Day with a street parade and festival called Junkanoo, in which traditional rhythmic dancers called gombeys fill the streets with their elaborate costumes and headdresses.

♥~ England and Canada’s Boxing Day evolved into a major shopping event in the 1980s –the equivalent of post-Thanksgiving Black Friday. But this year, many of the sales started earlier in an effort to boost the slumping.

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What are your plans for the day? If you have a morno moment leave a comment! Odd Loves Company.

Wishing you a marvelous Monday.

♥