Grand Christmas (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday

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I pray you all have a blessed and beautiful Christmas!

For those who do not celebrate, may you have a most blessed and beautiful Monday!

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at 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!

Our Christmas, like that of so many people with grown children pulled in all different directions by in-laws, outlaws, and other work obligations, is a multi-day affair.  When you can get here, that's when we have our Christmas.

Saturday while i was in NOLA, Bigger Girl and Little Girl and her fiancé were there, as was Bryn (Uncle J's oldest).  All the dogs were there, Lulu, Jack, Abby and Coda.  Oranges were picked (with 87-year-old Grandpa insisting on getting on the ladder, blast him) and it was fun.  I got a few pictures, but it was awww-some chaos.

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Sparks is the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, who wanted us to post something positive and uplifting at the start of the week.  While she no longer blogs, i like to post an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.     

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Charlotte/Mother Owl participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let Diane know!

This week the theme is Christmas, Hanukkah, or Holidays.          

             

Because there is a choice of topics, i wrote a Christmas poem and copied my Hanukkah poem from last year.

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A shepherd gets so little sleep,

in the fields his flocks to keep,

as predators are just out of sight

stalking animals all the night.

This night would be different, though,

as soon there would be quite a show,

angels would light up their sky,

with an anthem from on high.

The angel came with this to say,

Unto you is born this day,

in David's Bethlehem the King,

into the world His light to bring.

The shepherds left the herds alone,

to Bethlehem they got them gone,

and in a manger found the light

sent to shatter humanity's night.

The Light of the World our heavenly Bread

in a feeding trough did lay His head

to give us hope that there could be

Peace on Earth for you and me.

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About Hanukkah i have learned

It's about the oil that burned,

One day's worth eight days and nights,

That's why it's a Festival of Lights.

Pagans had suppressed the Jews again

(And will such bigotry never end?!?)

Leaving their Temple a terrible mess,

For the holy lamp one day's oil, no more, no less.

It would take a whole week to purify

More oil, it's enough to make you cry.

You finally get your Temple back,

Waiting longer's like a torture rack.

They decided not to wait!

Light it up and celebrate!

Even if it's just one day,

We'll be glad more's on the way.

But then a miracle, hear them shout!

The one day's oil did not run out,

Until they'd purified another batch,

Which takes a week to start from scratch!

That's why Jews celebrate with oil,

Fried Hanukkah foods, not baked or broiled,

Celebrate for eight full days

All of G-d's miraculous ways.

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Today is:

A'phabet Day -- a/k/a No "L" Day!  yes, go ahead and groan

Carol Day -- internet generated, listed as different dates, but this is the last day this year you should have to listen to Christmas songs, so enjoy

Children's Day -- Cameroon; Chad; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo DR; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Uruguay

Christmas Day/Feast of the Nativity -- Christian/Orthodox Christian

Constitution Day -- Taiwan

Dia de la Familia -- Uruguay

Dies Natalis Invicti Solis -- Ancient Roman Calendar (birthday of the invincible sun god)

Ennead Feast in the Houses of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Family Day -- Angola; Mozambique; Uruguay

Malkh-Festival -- Nakh peoples of Chechenya and Ingushetia (a sun god festival)

National Pumpkin Pie Day

Quaid-e-Azam's Day -- Pakistan (birth anniversary of "Great Leader," the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Day -- introduced by Montgomery Ward Department Store this day in 1939

St. Anastasia of Sirmium's Day (Patron of martyrs, weavers, and widows)

Anniversaries Today:

Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, 1926

Washington crosses the Delaware, 1776

Birthdays Today

Dido, 1971

Rickey Henderson, 1958

Shane MacGowan, 1957

Annie Lennox, 1954

Karl Rove, 1950

Ron Foos, 1949

Sissy Spacek, 1949

Barbara Mandrell, 1948

Larry Csonka, 1946

Jimmy Buffett, 1946

Gary Sandy, 1945

Hanna Schygulla, 1943

Carlos Castaneda, 1925

Rod Serling, 1924

Anwar Sadat, 1918

Quentin Crisp, 1908

Cab Calloway, 1907

Humphrey Bogart, 1899

Cal Farley, 1895

Robert Ripley, 1893

Dame Rebecca West, 1892

Conrad Hilton, 1887

Evangeline Cory Booth, 1865

Clara Barton, 1821

Isaac Newton, 1642

Traditional Birthday of Mithras

Traditional Birthday of Sol

Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Sword in the Stone(Disney animated film), 1963

"The Steve Allen Show"(TV), 1950

"Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts", 1931

"Why Marry?"(Play, first to win a Pulitzer for Drama), 1917 

"Symphony Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste ... en cinq parties"(Berlioz Symphony), 1830

Today in History:

The first Christmas, according to calendar maker Dionysus Exiguus, 1

The earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on the 25th, 337

The first definite date that Christmas was celebrated on the 25th, 352

Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome, 800

William I, Conqueror, crowned king of England, 1066

Boudouin I of Boulogne crowned king of Jerusalem, 1100

Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily, 1130

St Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene, in Greccio, Italy, 1223

The city of Natal, Brazil is founded., 1599

Gov William Bradford of Plymouth forbids game playing on Christmas, 1621

The Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine of five shillings for "observing any such day as Christmas", 1651

The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria, 1818

Louisiana & Arkansas are the first US states to observe Christmas as holiday, 1831

Despite bitter opposition, Pres Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (a/k/a the Civil War, or, tongue planted firmly in cheek, that recent unpleasantness between the States), 1868

The legendary/unofficial "Christmas Truce" takes place between the British & Germans, 1914

Emperor Taisho of Japan dies; his son, Prince Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor Showa, 1926

Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer, 1939

The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1, 1946

The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students, 1950

Richard Starkey gets his first drum set for Christmas, 1957

Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneouver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit, 1968

Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia, 1974

Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, 1977

The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web, 1990

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day), 1991

Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which would later successfully land on Saturn's moon Titan, 2004

The South Pole records its warmest temperature at -12.3 degrees Celsius at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, 2011

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is launched in a joint effort with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America, 2021