Hold Your Nose! (Awww Monday) and Sparks!

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Baby Lee has his own opinion about who stinks!

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The wonderful Annie of McGuffy's Reader has started the blog hop called Sparks as a way to put more positive energy into the world.  Join her in combating the often negative influence of social media by adding your own Spark!

I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world! ~ McGuffy Ann Morris

My "Spark" for the day

Today is:

Bake Cookies Day -- the holiday for everyone!

Eponalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (feast of Epona, goddess of fertility and horses, mules, and donkeys; during the Saturnalia and the only Roman honoring of a Celtic deity)

Flake Appreciation Day -- snow or human, your choice!

Hug a Soccer Player Day -- this “holiday" has a Facebook page, but no other history

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Hurdaskellir -- Door-Slammer, a noisy fellow who tries to keep everyone awake

International Answer the Phone like Buddy the Elf Day -- for fans of the film Elf, starring Will Ferrel

International Migrants Day -- UN

Kayin New Year -- Myanmar (The Kayin, or Karen, are the second largest ethnic minority in the country, and their New Year is an extra holiday with traditional costume and lots of celebrating)

Khoiak Ceremony for the Sokar Festival -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (falcon god; date approximate)

Let's See What We Find In the Fridge Day -- to bravely see if you've left anything in the back that you shouldn't have

National Day / Founder's Day -- Qatar

National Roast Suckling Pig Day

National Scrooge Week begins -- at least according to Mr. Ed

Nuestra Senora de la Soledad -- Oaxaca, Mexico (Our Lady of Solitude, Patron of the lonely, of Oaxaca, and of sailors who bring her pearls)

Republic Day -- Niger

Sarsodaw Pwe -- Myanmar (Writers' Day/Literati Day, especially celebrated by the press, and includes The National Literary Award Presentation Ceremony as well as public lectures, essay contests, and story-telling events)

St. Flannan's Day (Patron of Killaloe, Ireland)

Tulya's E'en -- Orkney Island (beginning of the Yule season when evil spirits roamed; date approximate, as we aren't sure if they equated Yule initially with Dec. 25 or the 22nd)

Wear a Plunger On Your Head Day -- observe this internet generated holiday at your own risk (and you will be one of the human flakes, i guess, that the rest of us appreciate)*

Anniversaries Today:

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's future president, marries Asif Ali Zardari, 1987

Capitol Reef National Park established, Utah, US, 1971

The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, outlawing slavery, takes effect, 1865

New Jersey becomes the 3rd US State, 1787

Birthdays Today:

Christina Aguilera, 1980

Katie Holmes, 1978

Earl "DMX" Simmons, 1970

Rob Van Dam, 1970

Rachel Griffiths, 1968

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, 1964

Brad Pitt, 1963

Ray Liotta, 1955

Leonard Maltin, 1950

Steven Spielberg, 1946

Keith Richards, 1943

Ossie Davis, 1917

Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, 1917

Douglas Fraser, 1916

Betty Grable, 1916

Willy Brandt, 1913

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., 1912

Ty Cobb, 1886

Joseph Grimaldi, 1778

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Avatar(Film), 2009

"The Sunshine Boys"(Play), 1972

"To Tell The Truth"(TV), 1956

"The Nutcracker"(Ballet), 1892

Today in History:

Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic, BC218

Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan", officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China, 1271

The Mayflower lands in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts with 102 Pilgrims on board, 1620

Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand, 1642

Thomas Fleet publishes "Mother Goose's Melodies For Children", 1719

Empress Maria Theresa expels Jews from Prague, Bohemia & Moravia, 1774

The first celestial photograph (of the Moon) is made in US, by John Draper, NYC, 1839

William Bond obtains the first photograph of the Moon through a telescope, 1849

Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde, 1888

The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic, 1900

The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is supposedly found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson, 1912 

Japan joins the United Nations, 1956

Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker, 1966

Dominica joins the United Nations, 1978

HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium, 1997

The first of a series of floods strikes Malaysia, 2006

The last US troops withdraw from Iraq, formally ending the Iraq War, 2011

*Unless this should have been Wear A Brand New, Never Before Used Plunger on Your Head Day, and was started by the plumbing supply industry