★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
December 19, 2012

★~ Today’s Quote: There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart. ~ Charles Dickens

★~ 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 set candles on the tree aflame, though setting the tree on fire is a possibility 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. Have you ever wondered who came up with the great idea of putting glass heirloom ornaments on a Christmas tree? Me too. Click for more evergreen facts

★~ 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!

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.

★~ 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 first published in Britain. A year earlier, he had read a disturbing news story about child labor in England, and so he had visited Cornwall to see for himself the horrible conditions of child workers in the mines there. Then he visited free schools for poor children. By the time he was through, he was so angry that he decided to write and publish a book exposing the terrible situation of children in poverty, and publish it at his own expense. That was A Christmas Carol in Prose, now called just A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol follows the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean old miser. At the beginning of the book, his view toward Christmas is: “Every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.” And after hearing that some poor people would rather die than go to prisons or workhouses, all he can say is: “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” But by the end, he has taken on the role of a second father for the poor, crippled son of a man who works for him. And he exclaims: “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!”

♥~ 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 – actress: Fear, Deadly Sins, Conflict of Interest, Commando, Old Enough, Who’s the Boss?

★~ Did You Know:

♥~ 169 years ago (1843), Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic was published in England.

♥~  A Christmas Carol might hold some sort of record for being the fastest classic tale ever written. Dickens started writing in October of 1843 and finished up before December. He left enough time for illustrator John Leech to do his thing and then it was printed, published and on bookshelves between December 17-19.

♥~  Based on notes from Dickens’ original manuscript, Tiny Tim was almost Little Fred. Dickens scholars think “Fred” was a reference to Dickens’s younger brother Frederick, another brother named Alfred who died relatively young, and a sickly nephew. He ended up using the name for Scrooge’s nephew instead.

♥~ When Dickens’ publishers were unimpressed with his idea for a short holiday novella, Charles decided to take matters into his own hands. He arranged the whole publishing process himself, from editing to printing, binding and advertising. He kept the price low so the masses could afford it. His finances suffered as a result.  Though the book was a hit, the price was just too good to turn a profit.

♥~ Spoiler alert – that is, if a 168-year-old book has spoilers – Tiny Tim dies. At least, he does in the version of What May Come to Pass presented by the Ghost of Christmas Future. The scene is so very sad that a critic at a public reading of the story in 1868 commented that his death “brought out so many pocket handkerchiefs that it looked as if a snow-storm had somehow gotten into the hall without tickets.”

♥~ The next time you wonder why we say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Christmas,” think of Charles Dickens. Though “merry” was in use in the 1800s, Dickens’ repeated use of the phrase in the book really popularized it. The story was such a smash hit that the greeting became standard.

♥~ If you’ve ever been inspired to go out and do good deeds after enjoying A Christmas Carol, well, you’re in good company. In 1874, Robert Louis Stevenson read the book and wrote to a friend, “I want to go out and comfort someone; I shall never listen to the nonsense they tell one about not giving money – I shall give money; not that I haven’t done so always, but I shall do it with a high hand now.”

♥~ Since that original publishing that Dickens managed to scrape together by himself, A Christmas Carol has never been out of print.

♥~ We’re never officially told what Tiny Tim’s illness was. Time magazine speculated that it may have been distal renal tubular acidosis, a type of kidney failure; another theory is that the little lad had rickets due to his lack of Vitamin D.

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I have come up with a new way to torture my kid…When he sings Christmas Carols in the shower, I stand outside the door and sing along. He isn’t the least bit amused but I am!

Christmas is getting merrier by the day! Yesterday, my sweet Mother’s fudge arrived. The worlds best fudge! The Christmas coffee cake is a wee bit late but we are enjoying the fudge in the meantime!

You know we sell Deer Antlers chews for pups right? Well, I was asked yesterday (again) if the Deer Antlers were safe for children. I usually say no but have decided to change my answer, “Deer Antlers are safe for children but we don’t recommend giving them one unless they’re in a crate,” if you can’t beat them, join them. Speaking of Deer Antlers one of our customers sent us this picture ….don’t you love it??

“If you crossed a Walrus and Doberman this is what it might look like !!!.
Maybe a Walberman ?? AKA Jonas Scarpa holding Deer Antlers”

What are your plans for this Wonderful Wednesday?

Odd Loves Company