One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don't clean it up too quickly.
~ Andy Rooney ~
~~~~
25 Interesting Christmas Facts You Probably Didn't Know Before This Second1
Christmas wasn't always on December 25.
Though Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, there is no mention of December 25 in the Bible. Most historians actually believe Jesus was born in the spring, not the winter. And his birthday itself didn't become the official holiday until the third century. Some historian posit that the date was actually chosen because it coincided with the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which honored the agricultural god Saturn with celebrating and gift-giving. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
2
You can thank Prince Albert for your Christmas tree.
You might want to brew a cup o' tea when decking your halls this year. The origin of Christmas trees goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, who marked the winter solstice with evergreens as a reminder that spring would return soon. But it wasn't until Prince Albert of Germany introduced the tree to his new wife, Queen Victoria of England, that the tradition really took off. A drawing of the couple in front of a Christmas tree appeared in Illustrated London News way back in 1848 and as we say today, the idea went viral.
3
St. Nick was more generous than jolly.
You probably already knew that the idea of Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas, but the real saint wasn't a bearded man who wore a red suit and had a long, white beard. That all came much later. According to legend, the fourth-century Christian bishop gave away his abundant inheritance to help the needy and rescued women from servitude. As the tale made the rounds, his name became Sinter Klaas in Dutch. That later morphed into Santa Claus, and the rest of the trappings followed.
4
Coca-Cola played a huge part in Santa's image.
Craving a Coke yet? Give it a second. According to Coca-Cola, Santa used to look a lot less jolly — even spooky. Go ahead, Google early images of Santa. We'll wait. It wasn't until the beverage company hired an illustrator named Haddon Sundblom in 1931 to create images of Santa for magazine advertisements that we got the warm and friendly Santa we know today. Now, kids wouldn't fear interrupting Santa's nightly work.
5
Hanging stockings started with an accident.
According to legend, we hang out stockings by the chimney with care thanks to a poor man who didn't have the money for his three daughters' dowries. Generous old St. Nick (remember, that's his trademark!) dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night, where the girls had hung their stockings to dry by the fire. That's where the gold ended up, and allegedly how the tradition began.
6
"Jingle Bells" was originally a Thanksgiving song.
Turns out, we didn't originally go dashing through the snow for just Christmas. James Lord Pierpont wrote a song called "One Horse Open Sleigh" and performed it at his church's Thanksgiving concert originally. Then in 1857, the song was re-published under the title it still holds today, and it eventually became one of the most popular Christmas songs.
7
Astronauts broadcast "Jingle Bells" from space.
This prank almost went too far. Nine days before Christmas in 1965, the two astronauts aboard Gemini 6 suddenly sent an odd report to Mission Control that they saw an "unidentified flying object" about to enter Earth's atmosphere, traveling in the polar orbit from north to south. They interrupted the tense report with the sound of “Jingle Bells” with “Wally” Schirra playing a small harmonica and accompanied by Tom Stafford with a handful of small sleigh bells they had smuggled aboard for that very occasion.
8
Celebrating Christmas used to be illegal.
By the time the Puritans settled Boston, celebrating Christmas was outlawed. Talk about missing the Christmas spirit! From 1659 to 1681, anyone caught making merry would face a fine for celebrating the once-pagan day. And after the Revolutionary War, the new Congress found the day so unimportant that they even held the first session on December 25, 1789. Christmas wasn't proclaimed a federal holiday for nearly another century, proving that the Grinch's notorious hatred of the holiday was alive and well long before he was.
9
The settlers created the first American batch of eggnog.
The Jamestown settlers created the first American batch of eggnog, although it may not have tasted quite the way the egg-centric concoction does today. The word nog comes from the word grog; that is, any drink made with rum. So technically, an early nog didn't really require the rich, milky base we now recognize on grocery store shelves and ladle out of grandma's cut-crystal punch bowl.
10
Christmas decorating sends nearly 15,000 people to the ER.
If you've ever watched Clark Griswold try to decorate his house in Christmas Vacation (or any number of other holiday movie mishaps), that probably doesn't come as much of a surprise. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 14,700 people visit hospital emergency rooms each November and December from holiday-related decorating accidents. So please, be careful when you're decking the halls.
11
Santa has his own zip code in Canada.
Every year, letters to Santa Claus flood post offices across the world and every year, parents have to find a way to either answer them or explain to the kiddos why their letter got, um, lost in the mail. Further cementing their reputation as one of the nicest countries going, some big-hearted Canadian Post Office workers even started answering them. As more letters arrived, they set up a special zip code for Santa as part of a "Santa Letter-Writing Program" literacy initiative. The zip code? HOH OHO.
12
Dry Christmas trees spark more than joy.
For the love of Christmas, don't forget to water your live tree. Dried Christmas trees spark about a hundred fires each year, cause an average of 10 deaths, and result in $15.7 million in property damage, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports. Not only will an errant spark ruin your holiday, it can put both you and firefighters who respond to the blaze in danger. Are you convinced to switch to an artificial Christmas tree yet?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good morning everyboomie.
It's been a normal day here. My son's flight was not scheduled to land in DFW until about 4:20. He text me that it's been delayed an hour, but I just got another text that it has just arrived in Dallas. I guess they made up most of the hours delay.
It's still going to take him a couple of hours to collect his bags, pick up a car, and drive up here. We're at least an hour and a half North of DFW.
So I took Missy parking today, braved a trip to Walmart, cleaned house, and did a whole lot of exercising.
I guess I can do a little gaming before he gets here.
Have a fantastic day everyone.
Happy Christmas Eve!
Ana, I'm trying to picture you walking through the park with a hamster on a leash.
joe
acebook
witter
On the hamster! Petunia is a real sweetie! 
Stopping in to wish a Merry Christmas Eve Joe, SpaceQ, family, Ana, soot, Connie and all Boomers who are celebrating! 
to all boomers. Hope every one has a terrific time this holiday 
