Thank You Day

In honor of National Thank You Note Day, I am thankful that:

We had a nice Christmas -- all 3 of us kids got to be there, with 5 of my parents' 6 grandchildren (my #1 Son was running a fever and stayed home);

We had a safe trip, very little traffic, and I even saw something I have never seen on this stretch of road before, a doe grazing on the side of the interstate!

And that #2 Son, the 13 year boy, only tried to gas us out of the car once (well, what do you expect, he's 13, he thinks he is being funny).


Today is:

Blessing of the Wine, Luxembourg

Boxing Day (Day on which boxes of goodies are given to the less fortunate, and sometimes servants and masters traded places for the day.) Celebrated on Dec. 28 in 2009 in those countries where it is a bank holiday.

Day of the Wren, Ireland

Day of Our Theotokos / Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God --

Byzantine/Eastern Orthodox Christian

Day of Goodwill, South Africa

Family Day, Vanuatu

Independence Day, Slovenia

Junkanoo, Bahamas (See Dec. 23 for explanation)

Kwanzaa, Day 1, Unity

National Candy Cane Day

National Thank-you Note Day

National Whiner's Day

Recyclable Packaging Day

Second Day of Christmas

St. Stephan's Day (patron of stonecutters, bricklayers, builders, horses); in Austria, Luxembourg

Tehuantepec Festivities, Mexico

Zarathosht Diso (Death of Prophet Zarathushtra) - Zoroastrian


Birthdays Today:

Jared Leto, 1971
Lars Ulrich, 1963
David Sedaris, 1956
Ozzie Smith, 1954
Carlton Fisk, 1947
John Walsh, 1945
Phil Spector, 1940
Alan King, 1927
Steve Allen, 1921
Richard Widmark, 1914
Mao Tse-tung, 1893
Henry Miller, 1891
Charles Babbage, 1791


Today in History:

Colombus founds the first Spanish settlement in the New World by leaving behind 36 men in what is now Haiti, 1492
Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620
The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins, 1792
A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable, 1811
The Erie Canal opens, 1825
Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years, 1871
King Mwanga of Uganda signs a contract with the East Africa Company, 1890
An earthquake kills 70,000 in Kansu, China, 1932