My clever girls -- all four of them now -- decided to figure out a way to decorate this cat infested (and i mean that lovingly) place.

We don't do traditional stuff, it would get knocked over, batted around, and then chewed by the Hazelnut.

So my artists are making homemade decorations and plan to spend Christmas Eve hanging them from the ceiling with fishing line.

We will then observe the old tradition and, since it was put up on Christmas Eve, leave it all until Epiphany (January 6, a/k/a Little Christmas).

Just don't be surprised to find me on a stepladder all by my lonesome, all 5'0" of me, trying to get it all down later, when they lose interest in that part.

Well, it will be worth it, they are having so much fun.


Today is:

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Day -- marking the debut of the song, think of 50 ways to stay with the one you love, and do one!

BPT Remembrance Day -- try to remember what breakfast was like BPT (Before Pop-Tarts)

Dot Your I's With Smileys Day -- a great internet generated idea, if you are a 9-year-old girl

Fete des Cafres -- Reunion (commemorates freeing of the slaves)

Go Caroling Day -- if you have the voice for it, enjoy

International Human Solidarity Day -- UN

Louisiana Purchase Day -- US

Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day -- Macau

Mudd Day -- for Samuel Mudd, the doctor who accidentally treated a disguised John Wilkes Boothe after he assassinated Lincoln; don't hang your head in shame if your name is Mudd! Today is your day.

National Fried Shrimp Day

National Sangria Day (If you still aren't ready for Christmas, you might need it.)

Snowflake-Riding Championships -- Fairy Calendar (no Goblins allowed!)

St. Dominic of Silos' Day (Patron of captives, pregnant women, prisoners, and shepherds; against hydrophobia, insects, mad dogs, and rabies)

Try to Remember Where You Hid The Christmas Gifts Day -- it's getting close, and you don't want to have to go out at the last minute and buy more


Birthdays Today:

David Cook, 1982
Billy Bragg, 1957
Uri Geller, 1946
Peter Criss, 1945
George Roy Hill, 1922
Irene Dunne, 1898
Harvey Firestone, 1868


Today in History:

Vespasian enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor, 69
Richard the Lionheart is captured in Vienna, 1192
Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta, 1522
Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1, 1699
The Louisiana Purchase is formally transferred from France to US for $27M, 1803
The international cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls, 1883
North America's longest railway, at 50,000km, the Canadian National Railways, is established, 1919
The first international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Quebec, 1928
The cathode-ray tube is patented by Russian immigrant Vladimir Zworykin, 1938
Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom, 1955
Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations, 1977
NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X, 1996
US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 2005
Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days, 2007