★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 19, 2013

 ★~ Today’s Quote: “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody!” A Christmas Carol

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★~ Evergreen Day:

Oh Christmas tree. A time-honored tradition that dates all the way back to 16th century Northern Germany, where towns would decorate a spruce in the market square. Pastor Balthasar Russow wrote of the young men and women who ‘first sang and danced’ and then set the tree aflame.’ Probably this meant lighting the candles on the tree. However, the desire to set the tree on fire is not to far fetched after a day spent lugging it in the house, digging the boxes of ornaments out of the attic and untangling the strings of lights. Let’s face it  for most of us putting up the ‘Oh Christmas Tree’  is rarely a Hallmark moment. 

★~ Re-Gifting Day:

Remember the 1995 classic “Seinfeld” episode, “The Label Maker”? It’s the one where Elaine realizes that Dr. Tim Whately has given Jerry the label maker that Elaine had previously given him. Elaine makes her accusation as a proclamation, while her eyes just about pop out of her head: “He’s a Re-gifter!” she exclaims. And with that, “re-gifting” became a dirty word.

But in this age of green giving, when many of us have accumulated way too much stuff, re-gifting seems to have become a bit more socially acceptable but you still don’t want to get busted so re-gift carefully!

★~ Hard Candy Day:

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.  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!

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.

★~ Oatmeal Muffin Day:

A fresh oatmeal muffin paired with a foamy cappuccino might be the quintessential afternoon pick me up you need to make it through your day. Not my day…but perhaps your day.

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1776 – Thomas Paine published his first American Crisis essay, Common Sense, in which he wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

♥~ 1843 – Charles Dickens’ Yuletide tale, “A Christmas Carol,” was published in Britain.

♥~ 1863 – London’s Frederick Walton patented linoleum.

♥~ 1973 – Johnny Carson pulled a good one before a nationwide late-night audience on NBC. Carson started a fake toilet-paper scare. In his Tonight Show monologue, he told his huge audience that a Wisconsin congressman had warned that toilet paper was disappearing from supermarket shelves. Toilet paper soon became a scarce commodity in many areas of the United States after the gag.

♥~ 1997 –  Titanic, 15 years ago the Titanic was released in theaters, starring Leonardo Dicaprio Kate Winslet Billy Zane and Kathy Bates. it grossed $1.84 billion worldwide— Titanic,

★~Born Today:

♥~ 1933 –  Cicely Tyson – Emmy Award-winning actress: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman [1973-74], Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All [1993-94]; Roots,Fried Green Tomatoes, Heat Wave, Sounder

♥~ 1941 – Maurice White singer – musician: drummer; founder of group: Earth, Wind & Fire: Shining Star, Sing a Song, Got to Get You into My Life, After the Love Has Gone,Best of My Love

♥~ 1944 –  Alvin Lee – musician: group: Ten Years After: A Space in Time

♥~ 1944 –   Tim Reid – Actor- “WKRP in Cincinnati”

♥~ 1960 –  Mike Lookinland – Actor, “The Brady Bunch”

♥~ 1967 – Criss Angel (Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos) magician, musician, mentalist, hypnotist, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, A&E TV host: Criss Angel Mindfreak

♥~ 1969 – Kristy Swanson -actress: Dude, Where’s My Car?, Pretty in Pink, Knots Landing, Nightingales, Hot Shots!, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marshal Law, Bad to the Bone,Early Edition

♥~ 1971 – Amy Locane – actress: Airheads, Spencer, Melrose Place, End of Summer, The Heist

♥~ 1972 – Alyssa Milano – She rose to fame as a Who’s the Boss? teen actress and later co-starred as Phoebe Halliwell on Charmed from 1998 to 2006.

★~ Good to Know:

John Green discusses some popular holiday traditions and how they came about.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/GeaSlcMpPTQ[/youtube]

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Florida must be greatly relieved that the Affluenza breakout occurred in Texas. Affluenza-defense (Cole shared this story with me–he does not think he’s at risk)

PSA: In case you go to McDonalds do not order a Holiday pies. Even if you are starving to death. They are McDreadful.

This amused me. . . .

Our tree is up and, of-course, it’s the prettiest tree we’ve ever decorated.  I’ll try to post pictures sometime between now and the fall of it all. We are busy addressing Cole’s VW Bug cards and I am hopefully that I can start on my own cards over the weekend. Except for the occasional bouts of Christmas malaise things are pretty merry around here. Cole and I are both looking forward to his Christmas break which starts Friday at noon. He plans to build a bookcase for me over the holiday. His timing could not be more perfect, after all, what’s one more project around the holidays: ladders, Christmas decorations, campers, drilling, barking….

We are due for snow this weekend and into next week, but right now the temps are mild and dry. I’m intending that all weather conditions lighten up for the holiday travelers.

What new with you?

Odd Loves Company!