Wreaths

On December 1, Steve issued a challenge to post a wreath today in honor of deceased veterans.

Several times, between extra work and car breakdowns and house repairs and other trauma, i've tried to figure out how to get the exact wreath they use on the Wreaths Across America site, if that's even allowed.

Since i haven't been able to do that, i decided i wasn't just going to bail.  Those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in military duty deserve our remembrance and honor.  Instead, i just found a wreath picture i could post.

Greater love has no one that to give up his/her life for others.

At this time of year, when many families are hurting because they miss their loved ones, let's not forget the reason some of those loved ones are gone.


Today is:

Acadian Remembrance Day -- Acadians of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island

AKC/Eukanuba National Championships -- Orlando, FL, US (top dogs from around the world compete to see -- who really is top dog? through tomorrow)

Christmas Festival in Salvador -- Salvador, Brazil (one fun party, with many different activities through New Year's Day)

Count the La's in "Deck the Halls" Day -- just so you can say you know

Feast of Hathor -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (goddess of joy, feminine love, and motherhood; date approximate)

Fiesta de Santo Tomas -- Chichicastenango, Guatemala (week long festival celebrating the town's Patron Saint that includes the Palo Volador dance, where men hang by ropes from 30 meter poles, spinning and swinging)

Hakidaore Ichi -- Tokyo, Japan (fabulous shoe festival; through tomorrow)

Ice Cream and Violins Day -- another of those silly made up holidays that no one can trace, but would be fun to celebrate.  Get yourself a bowl of buttered pecan or rum raisin -- if you are going to celebrate, do it in style -- and put in a Mozart or Bach CD, and enjoy!

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Giljagaur -- Gully Oaf, who tries to sneak in the cowshed and skim the cream from the pails of milk

Ides of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar; other observance
     Festival for Tellus -- a/k/a Tellura or Tellus Mater, the personification of the earth's productive powers

International Shareware Day

Jane Addams Day -- Hull House Museum, Chicago, IL, US (sponsored by the American Association of University Women-Illinois) 

Jum ir-Repubblika -- Malta (Republic Day)

Live: Family Christmas at the Benjamin Harrison Home -- Indianapolis, IN, US (Christmas as it would have been during the life of the 23rd President)

National Day -- Santa Lucia

National Day of the Horse -- US (by Congressional resolution, information here)

New Calendar Day -- time to get the 2014 model, unless you contribute to so many charities you are already flooded with them

Peace Day -- Korea (the fighting stopped in 1953, but the Koreas didn't sign a formal nonaggression pact until this day in 1991)

Pick a Pathologist Pal Day -- Wellcat Holidays reminds us that pathologists and coroners are an especially jovial lt, and befriending them is a good way to remind yourself that tomorrow is never guaranteed

Runic Half-month Jara commences (fruition)

St. Herman of Alaska (Orthodox Church Patron of the Americas)

St. Jodocus' Day (Patron of boatmen, harvests, mariners, sailors, watermen; against fever, fire, storms, and shipwrecks)

Saint Lucy's Day (Patron of authors, blind people, cutlers, glaziers, laborers, martyrs, peasants, saddlers, salesmen, sore eyes/eye problems, sore throats, stained glass workers; Begijnendijk, Flemish Brabant, Belgium; Conzano, Italy; Mtarfa, Malta; Perugia, Italy; Santa Lucia di Piave, Italy; Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; Villa Santa Lucia, Latium, Italy; against blindness, dysentery, epidemics, eye diseases, hemorraghes)
     Feast of the Light-bringer -- honoring Juno Lucina (Roman goddess of light) and Lucia (Old Swedish goddess of light), all now merged with St. Lucy
     Little Yule a/k/a Luciadagen or Santa Lucia (Festival of Lights in many parts of Scandinavia, honoring St. Lucia.)

Unreturned Library Book Sale -- Fairy Calendar (Imps)

Victorian Christmas Tours at Frank Lloyd Wright Home -- Oak Park, IL, US (today and next Saturday)


Birthdays Today:

Taylor Swift, 1989
Amy Lee, 1981
Tom DeLonge, 1975
Christie Clark, 1973
Jamie Foxx, 1967
Steve Buscemi, 1958
Wendie Malick, 1950
Ted Nugent, 1949
John Davidson, 1941
Aga Khan IV, 1936
Christopher Plummer, 1929
Dick Van Dyke, 1925
Archie Moore, 1913
Kenneth Patchen, 1911
Mary Todd Lincoln, 1818
Heinrich Heine, 1797


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Susan B. Anthony Dollar(USD coin), 1978
"Alice's Restaurant"(Song and Album), 1969
"An American In Paris"(Gershwin Symphony), 1928


Today in History:

The Council of Trent opens, 1545
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to circumnavigate the globe, 1577
Emperor Ferdinanad II delegates the first Anti-Reformation decree, 1621
The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes 3 militias which are today seen as the founding of the United States National Guard, 1636
Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes the first European to land in New Zealand, 1642
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire is chartered, 1769
Italo Marcioni patents an ice cream cone, 1903
The Relay 1 communication satellite is launched, 1962
Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17, 1972
The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004, 2002
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured, 2003
The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, is announced as extinct, 2006
Scientists in northeast Madagascar confirm a new species of lemur has been found, 2010
An unpublished early work by Hans Christian Anderson is found at the bottom of a filing box at the National Archives of Funen, 2012