~★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 24,2012

★~ Today’s Quote:  Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!  ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

★~On Christmas Eve at midnight: The Animals Can Talk

“..It was Christmas Eve in the barnyard. Seven ordinary animals had just settled down for the night. It was just a typical night — or so they thought. The hour of midnight drew near. Silent snow fell gently to the ground. And then something quite amazing happened. These seven ordinary animals, in this simple barn, became seven special animals, if only for this one night. . .” Click here for the rest of the story.

Every year on Christmas Eve my sweet mother, would tell me the story of how the animals could talk on Christmas Eve at 12m.   I loved the story when I little and I still love it. I wonder what Rascal will share with me…I wonder what your camper (f they are at camp will share with me?  (hehehehe)

★~ Egg Nog Day:

A frothy, fattening holiday favorite, eggnog is traditionally made from milk, cream, sugar, beaten raw eggs, spices, and sometimes alcohol. The type of alcohol added depends on the country where it is made. In Europe, eggnog is made typically with white wine. Americans on the other hand drink it with bourbon or rum, while Peruvians use pomace brandy, and Germans use beer. Historically, the alcohol added to eggnog was meant to help combat the danger of eating raw eggs. Raw eggs aren’t allowed in the eggnog sold in stores,of-course, but don’t let that stop you from spicing your nog up a bit. I got a little ahead of myself this month and posted eggnog fascinating eggnog facts on December 7th, 2012. They have expired tho so go ahead and read and enjoy them today.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1818 – Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for Silent Night to words written by Josef Mohr. The traditional song was sung for the first time during Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

♥~ 1867 – “Oh by gosh by golly!” Is it that time already? It was Christmas Eve that R.H. Macy’s Department Store in New York City remained open until midnight to catch last-minute shoppers. The store took in a record $6,000, giving itself a very Merry Christmas.

♥~ 1968 – Three astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon. They orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven months later man first landed on the moon.

♥~ 1977 – The Bee Gees spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve at the top of the music charts. How Deep is Your Love became #1 this day and stayed that way for three weeks.

★~ Born Today: 

♥~ 1905 – Howard Hughes industrialist: Hughes Aircraft; pilot [the ‘Spruce Goose’]; Hollywood producer: Jean Harlow’s career; The Front Page, Scarface, The Outlaw; eccentric recluse: long fingernails; died Apr 5, 1976

♥~ 1922 – Ava Gardner actress: Actress and leading sex symbol of the 1940s and ’50s, Ava Lavinnia Gardner was born at Smithfield, NC. Among Gardner’s numerous movies are The Barefoot Contessa, Bhowani Junction, The Sun Also Rises and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. Gardner was married to Mickey Rooney (1942–43), Artie Shaw (1945–46) and Frank Sinatra (1951–57).

♥~ 1927 – Mary Higgins Clark novelist, author: A few of her best selling titles include-All Through the Night, Before I Say Goodbye, Daddy’s Little Girl, On the Street Where You Live, We’ll Meet Again

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ In the Ukraine it’s considered good luck if a spider appears on your Christmas tree. This stems from a folk tale about an old woman too poor to afford ornaments, who found that spiders had inhabited her tree overnight and decorated its branches with their webs. If you wake to a spider on your tree on Christmas morning you’ll be blessed with good fortune.

♥~ In the Czech Republic, Single women stand with their backs to the door and throw a shoe over their shoulder. If the shoe’s toe points towards the door they’ll get married in the coming year. If not…better luck next year.

♥~ According to German tradition, the pickle brings good luck and was the last ornament placed on the Christmas tree. On Christmas morning the first child to find the pickle will have good luck for the coming year, and receives an extra gift.

♥~ In Slovakia, a sloppy ceiling on Christmas Eve is a boon to farming. People throw a lump of bread, water, and poppy seeds, called Loksa, onto the ceiling. If the Loksa sticks, crops will be bountiful in the following year.

♥~ In Norway, witches steal brooms on Christmas Eve, and ride around in the sky. So Norwegian safely put away their brooms and mops before sleep.

♥~ In Caracas, Venezuela, it’s not uncommon for streets to be blocked off on Christmas Eve to allow churchgoers to roller skate to church.

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It seems Trinket is speaking up a little early this Christmas season. My sweet Mom shared this amusing antidote, “…You have to be so careful what you teach your Doberman. A couple of weeks ago, I taught Trinket to get the phone. Today, exhausted from all my Christmas baking (Katybeth, your coffee cake should arrive today), I took the whole day off to just lie around and read. I guess Trinket was bored because Charlie found her out on the patio playing with my phone, or he thought she was playing with it. She might have been calling Madie and Greda to congratulate them on their retirement. Or maybe she was calling Nikki to tell her she was being much to easy on Irene! Or perhaps she was talking to Ms. Ruby about what a softie her new owner was….Dobermans are wonderful, Doberman bitches are wonderful in a whole new way!” (Shh don’t tell my mom but Trinket called me and asked for the pizza delivery guys number.  I told her to order pizza for Cole and I in Chicago…and gave her Outbacks number in Albuquerque.  She was most grateful.) 

Don’t go to far away….Up next….Ugly Christmas sweaters.

Wishing you a magical Christmas Eve.

♥