A Last Hurrah (Six Sentence Story), Good Fences, Sammy’s Poetry Day, and Brian’s Thankful Thursday

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"Jingle bells, shotgun shells, Granny's in the pen!"

Do you really have to...

"She pulled her piece when she caught Grandpa with someone else's hen!"

Oof -- you always did have trouble hitting that note.

"Every year we have to go and visit her, you see...with good behavior she'll get out in 2033!"

Now that you have it out of your system, would you please help me box these ornaments?

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

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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!

This week i went down a side street i'd not been down in a while and saw some lovely decorated fences.  Time to share them before they disappear for another year.

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

We've seen a lot of years come in,

each has brought its fun,

and no matter how much longer we go,

I'm really enjoying our run!

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

Today i am thankful Christmas comes only once a year.  It's a lot of work and while i wouldn't ever want to do without it, once a year is enough!

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Today is:

Bairns Day -- Scotland (Begins the runic half-month of Eoh, the yew tree, which signifies the dead, and is now associated with the Slaughter of the Innocents of Christian tradition, so today is considered by some the unluckiest day of the year, and no work should be undertaken today.)

Call a Friend Day -- just to catch up a bit

Card Playing Day -- internet generated, enjoy a fun game with friends and family; "Go fish!"

Childermas a/k/a Holy Innocents Day -- (Patrons of babies, children's choirs, foundlings)

     various Christian traditions celebrate under many names and in various ways

     Els Enfarinats -- Ibn, Valencia, Spain (flour fight, and if it's anything like the tomato throwing in other towns of Spain, it's probably lots of fun)

     French Childermas tradition interpreted what the Norse saw as evidence of the Wild Hunt of Odin as the spirits of the Holy Innocents running from King Herod

     Inocentes -- Mexico, and sometimes celebrated as Mexican December Fool's Day (Herod fooled himself into thinking he had gotten rid of his rival king born in Bethlehem.)

Dyzemas Day -- Northhamptonshire, UK (an unlucky day to begin any new undertaking, "what is begun on Dysemas Day will never be finished")

     origin unknown, but often translated as Tithe Day, being very close to the Portugese word for tithe

Eat A Vegetarian Day -- an internet generated joke; yes, the vegetarian in question can be a cow

Endangered Species Act Day -- US (act passed 1973; a day to mourn species already extinct)

Fourth Day of Christmas

Incwala Day -- Swaziland (the biggest day of the 8 week Ncwala Festival, which loosely translates as "first fruits", although today's tasting of the first of the harvest by the King is only a portion of the many days of ceremonies)

King Taksin Memorial Day -- Thailand

Kwanzaa, Day 3, Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

National Chocolate Candy Day

Proclamation Day -- South Australia (trad.)

Return a Gift for the Cold Hard Cash Day -- and good luck, these days

Runic Half-month Eoh (yew) commences

Take a Drive and Enjoy the Christmas Lights Day -- before they are gone for another year

Unluckiest Day of the Year -- various traditions state no work should be started today, for whatever is started today will never be finished!  In Olde England, nothing of importance was ever undertaken on Childermas, because it would prove unlucky

Anniversaries Today:

Billy Ray Cyrus weds Leticia Finley, 1994

The US Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted, 1945

Iowa becomes the 29th US State, 1846

Birthdays Today:

David Archuleta, 1990

Sienna Miller, 1981

John Legend, 1978

Joe Mangianello, 1976

Todd Richards, 1969

Malcolm Gets, 1964

Denzel Washington, 1954

Edgar Winter, 1946

Don Francisco, 1940

Maggie Smith, 1934

Nichelle Nichols, 1933

Martin Milner, 1931

Johnny Otis, 1921

Sam Levenson, 1911

Lew Ayres, 1908

Cliff Arquette, 1905

Earl "Fatha" Hines, 1905

Hendrik Meijer, 1883

Woodrow Wilson, 1856

John Molson, 1763

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Gulag Archipelago"(Publication date), 1973

"Last of the Red Hot Lovers"(Play), 1969

"Night of the Iguana"(Play), 1961

"On the Town"(Musical), 1944

"Tip-Toes"(Musical), 1925

"St. Joan"(Play), 1923

"Cyrano de Bergerac"(Play), 1897

Today in History:

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, a/k/a Westminster Abbey, is consecrated, 1065

The reign of Emperor Hanazono of Japan begins, 1308

Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star, 1612

King Taksin is crowned as king of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as a capital, 1768

Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario), 1795

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Echigo, Japan, killing 30,000+, 1828

John Calhoun becomes the first US Vice President to resign (over differences with President Andrew Jackson), 1832

Spain recognizes independence of Mexico, 1836

South Australia and Adelaide are founded, 1836

Rangoon Burma, destroyed by fire, 1841

The United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits, 1867

The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema, 1895

The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California, 1912

The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park, 1950

Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes "Gulag Archipelago", 1973

Winnie Mandela is banished from South Africa, 1976

The first American "test-tube baby", Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia, 1981

U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years, 2000

At 115 years old and 266 days, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan becomes the world's oldest living person, 2012

Iranian woman Vida Mohaved is arrested for protesting against the policy of the compulsory hijab, sparking other protests, 2017