Christmas Week Thankfuls, a Ten Things of Thankful Post

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A blessed and beautiful Merry Christmas to all!  Yes, it's still the Christmas season, until Epiphany, or actually, until Candlemas (February 2).

Anyway, last week as we left Grandma and Grandpa's house, Sweetie did the unthinkable and put his phone on top of the car while we were loading things.

Of course it fell off in the middle of traffic.

This is where i am thankful that i insist his phone has a screen protector, a hard shell cover, and is in a case that has a metal plate.  All we had to do, thankfully, was replace the screen, and it's fine.

And while the cost to repair it was not cheap, it was certainly less than replacement, so another thankful.

This week i had to go to the MallMart for Ms. S.  Do you know how crazy that place is this time of year?  Of course you do.  That's why i am thankful i got the idea to go at 7am when they opened and get the stuff myself, and let her pay me back.  In and out in a jiffy!

When i got off work one day, i called the mom of the Angel Tree child whose name i had this year, and she was not far away, so i managed to scoot over and meet up with her and give her the gift.  Delivered before Christmas!

On Wednesday afternoon, i actually got home early enough from work to lie down for a few minutes.  A "feets up" is always a celebration.

Sweetie, thankfully, was singing in the choir on Christmas Eve, so he didn't have to try to get a ticket to one of the services.  As for me, i did not even try, i was thankful to watch online and thankful i got the cornbread baked and thankful i got the hojaldras fried up.

It was a long day, so i was thankful to also be in bed by 10pm.

Christmas Day was a lot of thankful things, being able to get Bigger Girl and bring her along, getting there before 8am, all the cooking going like clockwork, giving and getting gifts, safe travels, and leftovers, among others.

One other i have to mention is that Bigger Girl, bless her, made a plate for her friend Amy the Firefighter.  Amy has no children and no family nearby, so she always volunteers to work the holidays, and Bigger Girl always remembers to make her a plate.  We were able to drop it off to her on our way home, and i am thankful, always, for my sweet daughter's thoughtful heart.

Then last night i went to the shelter to do my shift, and Katie, who was there to give medicine to the sick cats, had not told her husband, who had come to do the room  caretaking, that i was coming, so he had done my share also!  That meant i got to play with kittens for a bit and then go home early, which was lovely.

It's been a very busy and very happy week, and i hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season, and continue to enjoy whatever you celebrate between now and the New Year.  My plan is to celebrate all the thankful things, and keep listing them.

Please write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful, where Dyanne and her co-hosts always have a warm welcome waiting.   

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Today is:

Awful Tie Day -- internet generated, go to the office and compare who got the worst tie as a gift

Blessing of the Wine -- Greiveldange, Luxembourg (winemakers parade to the church to have a barrel of wine blessed)

Boxing Day -- day on which boxes of goodies are given to the less fortunate or public servants, and sometimes servants and masters traded places for the day

Coffee Percolator Day -- patented by James Mason on this day in 1865

Day of Goodwill -- Namibia; South Africa

Day of Our Theotokos /  Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God -- Byzantine/Eastern Orthodox Christian

Family Day -- Namibia; Vanuatu

Independence and Unity Day -- Slovenia(1990)

J'Ouvert -- Saint Kitts and Nevis (carneval-style street party for Boxing Day)

Junkanoo (Junkanoo Jonkanoo, Jankunu, John Canoe or Johnkankus) -- Carribean Islands, also on New Years Day (A special music and dance, mime and symbol that is an early traditional dance form of African descent.)

Kwanzaa, Day 1, Umoja (Unity)

Mummer's Day -- Padstow, Cornwall

National Candy Cane Day

National Thank-you Note Day

 National Whiner's Day™ -- a day to encourage people to be happy with what they have; the previous year's worst whiners are announced (you don't want to be one!)

Proclamation Day -- South Australia (day South Australia was established as a Province in 1836 by royal Proclamation)

Recyclable Packaging Day -- started by someone who wants to remind us to gather up the reusable bags, boxes, etc., left from the holiday, and recycle the rest

Second Day of Christmas

St. James the Just's Day -- Orthodox Christian

St. Stephen's Day (Patron of casket makers, deacons, horses, masons, stone masons; Patron of over 80 cities throughout Italy; Kessel, Germany; Metz, France; Owensboro, KY; Toulouse, France; against headaches)

     Public Holiday in Alsace, France; Andorra; Austria; Catalonia; Croatia; Czech Republic; Germany; Holy See; Hong Kong; Ireland; Italy; Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Poland; San Marino; Slovakia; Spain (regional); Switzerland (regional)

     Celebrated as Father's Day -- Bulgaria

     Day of the Wren -- Ireland; Isle of Mann (costumed mayhem)

Tehuantepec Festivities -- Oaxaca, Mexico

Thanksgiving Day -- Solomon Islands

Zarathosht Diso (Death of Prophet Zarathushtra) - Zoroastrian

Anniversary Today:

Rodney Dangerfield weds Joan Child, 1993

Establishment of Shenandoah National Park, VA, US, 1935

Birthdays Today:

Chris Daughtry, 1979

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

Laurent Clerc, 1785

Juan Lovera, 1778

Thomas Nelson, 1738

Thomas Gray, 1716

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Do re mi"(Musical), 1960

"The Glass Menagerie"(Play), 1944

"Of Thee I Sing"(Musical), 1931

Judy Garland, as Baby Frances, makes her stage debut at age 2 1/2, singing Jingle Bells on the vaudeville stage, 1924

"Tragic Overture"(Brahms' Op. 81), 1880

Today in History:

Columbus founds the first Spanish settlement in the New World by leaving behind 36 men in what is now Haiti, 1492

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

Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium, 1898

FM radio is patented, 1933

Time Magazine's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer, 1982

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the USSR, 1991

A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people, 2004

Brazil overtakes the United Kingdom as the world's sixth largest economy, 2011

China opens the world’s longest high speed rail route, from Beijing to Guangzhou, 2012

After a journey of 54 days, American Colin O'Brady is the first person to cross Antarctica solo and unassisted, 2018