Lullaby (Six Sentence Story), Good Christmas Fences, Sammy's Poetry Day, and Brian's Thankful Thursday

***********************************

"The sooner you sleep, the sooner you'll wake, tomorrow we'll go to the fair," mama crooned the lullaby over the sleepy little head on her shoulder, patting baby's back and hoping she'd get her own turn to lie down soon.

Eventually she was able to put the child in the crib and sneak out, stealing softly to her own bed hoping not to wake her husband in the process, but he was not quite asleep anyway, and turned as she gently slipped under the covers.

"You gonna be okay in the morning?  You haven't been getting much rest the last couple of nights."

"I'll be okay," she said through a yawn.

"If little-bundle-who-hardly-sleeps gets up again tonight, prod me and I'll take a shift, okay?"

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Fair.      

***********************************

While Good Fences Around the World seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, i still enjoy looking for and posting interesting fences, so i will!

***********************************

 It's Angel Sammy's Poetry Day!  This week's image and my poem:    

Yes, I’m wearing my Greta Thunberg frown,

Even while dressed in my princess gown.

I can’t believe what’s within my sight,

I thought Christmas presents should bring delight.

Am I really only getting these Christmas socks?

You might as well have given me a box of rocks.

A nicer gift wouldn't have made you go broke,

Please tell me this is a Christmas joke!

***********************************

Brian of Brian's Home hosts the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.   It's time to share something for which i am thankful.  

Today i am thankful Ms. GA agreed to let me clean her house today after i am done with Ms. V.  That means i have no work tomorrow except cat-sitting and going to NOLA to clean and spend the night, but before i go i'll get to attend a Christmas Eve service (the 11am) for the first time in 4 years!

***********************************

Today is:

Birthday of the Queen Silvia -- Sweden (an official flag day)

Children's Day -- South Sudan; Sudan

Day of Acca Larentia -- Ancient Rome, Republic and Empire (earth goddess and protectress who raised Romulus and Remus)

Festivus -- For the Rest of Us!  (The holiday introduced on the episode of Seinfeld that aired 12/18/97; have some meatloaf, decorate with an unadorned aluminum pole, have a "Feats of Strength" contest and an "Airing of Grievances"!)

Humanlight Celebration -- celebration of tolerance, compassion, empathy, honesty, free inquiry, reason, and rationality secularseasons.org

Icelandic Yuletide Lad of the Day, Ketkrokur -- Meat-hook, who will lower a hook down the chimney and snatch a bit of meat if he can, especially if you are cooking lamb for St. Porlakur(Thorlac)

Igler Bergweihnacht -- Igls, Austria (charming nativity parade starring the children of this small town near Innsbruck)

Learn Metric Day -- US (passage of the Metric Conversion Act of 1875)

Mouse-Marketing Day -- Fairy Calendar

National Pfefferneusse Day -- don't forget the Puderzucker!

Noche de Rabanos (Night of the Radishes) -- Oaxaca, Mexico (part of the lead up to Christmas, bring out your best carved radish!)

Popcorn Popping Day -- so you can string it on the tree, of course

Porlaksmessa, Feast of St. Thorlaker/Thorlac -- Iceland (Patron saint, though never officially recognized by the Holy See)

Roots Day -- as you gather with family during the season, don't forget to sit with elder relatives and learn about your family's past

Secret of the Unhewn Stone -- Celtic Calendar (Only day on their calendar not governed by a tree month)

St. John of Kanti's Day (Patron of Lithuania, Poland)

St. Servulus' Day (Patron of the disabled/physically challenged; against paralysis)

St. Victoria's Day (Patron of Anticoli Corrado, Italy)

Tenno Tanjobi -- Japan (Birthday of Emperor Akihito, national holiday observed as a day of rest.)

Two Days To Go Day

Victory Day -- Egypt (a/k/a Suez Victory Day)

Anniversary Today:

Establishment of the US Federal Reserve System, 1913

Birthdays Today:

Corey Haim, 1971

Carla Bruni, 1967

Eddie Vedder, 1964

Carol Ann Duffy, 1955

Susan Lucci, 1946

Harry Shearer, 1943

Akihito, 1933

Robert Bly, 1926

Gerald O'Loughlin, 1921

Jose Greco, 1918

Madame C.J. Walker, 1867

Connie Mack, 1862

Harriet Monroe, 1860

Joseph Smith, Jr., 1805

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Hoffmeyer's Legacy(Film; 1st with Keystone Kops), 1912

Today in History:

Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist, 962

St Philip of Moscow martyred by Ivan the Terrible, 1569

Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn, 1672

John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered, 1690

The Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France, 1776

Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct, 1779

"A Visit from St Nicholas" by C. Clement Moore is published in the Troy (NY) Sentinel (Now usually titled " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas"), 1823

The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed, 1893

The first all-steel passenger railroad coach completed, in Altoona, Pa, 1907

The first hospital ship built to move wounded naval personnel is launched, 1919

Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace, 1919

Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa, 1938

The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories, 1947

Dedication of Tokyo Tower, the world's highest self-supporting iron tower, 1958

The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world, 1970

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000, 1972

The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism, 1972

Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling, 1986

In a referendum, 88% of Slovenia's population vote for independence from Yugoslavia, 1990

An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hits Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, 2004

Volcanic activity alerts are issued in Chile and Argentina, in areas near the Copahue volcano, after it started to spew ash, 2012

The United Nations Security Council adopts a landmark resolution demanding a halt to all Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, 2016