Just a Few (Feline Friday) and Friendly Fill-Ins

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Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He has handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and it's simple to join, just follow the link to Sandee's page for the rules and the code.

Just a few of our current kitties at the shelter:

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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      

Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:

1. My favorite Christmas (or Hanukkah) _________ is _________.

2. This holiday season I will miss _________.

3. I would like Santa to bring _________.

4. You might find _________ under my Christmas tree this year

1. My favorite Christmas (or Hanukkah)  memory  is  all the fun times with the children when they were little.  

2. This holiday season I will miss  any family member who decides not to come for safety’s sake, but not much else. 

3. I would like Santa to bring  a cure for the pandemic, of course, and peace on Earth, but barring those, enough extra money so i could get my new glasses that i need would be nice.   

4. You might find  gifts of food  under my Christmas tree this year.   Depends on how much time i have.

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Today is:

Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Empire; also observed

     Festival for Diva Palatua -- guardian of Palatine Hill

     Septimonia -- to honor the Seven Hills of Rome

Feast of Sekhmet, Bast, and Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (goddess of warfare, feline goddess, and sun god; date approximate)

Fourth Republic Day -- Madagascar

Hanukkah -- Judaism (began sundown yesterday; through sundown Dec. 18)

International Mountain Day -- UN

Jashan-e Sadeh / Adar-Jashen -- Zoroastrian/Parsi (a mid-winter fire ceremony for purification; date approximate)

National Day / Republic Day -- Burkina Faso (also called Proclamation of Independence Day)

National Noodle Ring Day

National Salesperson's Day -- US (begun by Maura Schreier-Fleming, and listed on various days depending on whom you ask)

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day -- any country that dares to celebrate may claim this one, and you can order your ugly sweater here    

Nose-Scrambling and Hair-Hiking Events -- Fairy Calendar

Official Lost and Found Day -- why is this one official?  information here 

Pampanga Day -- Pampanga Province, Philippines

Remembrance Day of Llywelyn II -- Wales (death anniversary of Llywelyn the Last, the last native-born Prince of Wales, killed in battle in 1282)

St. Damasus' Day (Patron of archaeologists)

St. Pens' Day (Patron of Llanberis, Wales)

Tango Day -- Buenos Aires, Argentina (birth anniversary of both Julio de Caro and Carlos Gardel)

Anniversaries Today:

Unicef is established, 1946

Edward VIII abdicates, 1936

Indiana becomes the 19th US State, 1816

Birthdays Today:

Rider Strong, 1979

Mos Def, 1973

Mo'Nique, 1967

Gary Dourdan, 1966

Curtis Williams, 1962

Jermaine Jackson, 1954

Ken Wahl, 1953

Susan Seidelman, 1952

Teri Garr, 1949

Brenda Lee, 1944

John Kerry, 1943

Donna Mills, 1943

David Gates, 1940

Tom Hayden, 1940

Rita Moreno, 1931

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1918

Carlo Ponti, 1913

Naguib Mahfouz, 1911

Marjorie H. Buell, 1904

Fiorello LaGuardia, 1882

Annie Jump Cannon, 1863

Robert Koch, 1843

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"City of Angels"(Musical), 1989

"Magnum, PI"(TV), 1980

Today in History:

Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office, 359

Llywelyn the Last (born c. 1228) the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cimeri, 1282

The Aurora Borealis is seen from New England by English settlers for the first time, 1719

The first newspaper on Curacao is published, the Curacao Gazette & Commercial Advertiser, 1812

Nitrous oxide is used in dental work for the first time in Hartford, Connecticut, 1844

Boston's Bijou Theatre becomes the first American theater lit exclusively by electricity, premiering Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe" as its first performance, 1882

The New Zealand Parliament Buildings are almost completely destroyed by fire, 1907

Color moving pictures are demonstrated in Madison Square Garden, 1909

The Boll Weevil Monument is dedicated in Enterprise, Alabama, 1919

The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster 1931, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, 1931

Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time, 1934

Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, is the last person to be executed in Canada, 1962

Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon, 1972

The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature, 1997

The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization, 2001

In Taipei, protesters demand foreign live-in caregivers have the right to a day off each week, 2011

Pope Francis is named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year," 2013

A landmark trial for Huntington's disease in London announces positive results, the first time a drug has been able to slow an incurable brain disorder, 2017

India passes its controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, clearing the way for citizenship for immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan as long as they are not Muslim, 2019

The journal Nature publishes details of the earliest figurative artwork found in the world to date, 43,900-year-old depictions of part animal, part human figures in a cave in Sulawsi, Indonesia, 2019