Category: December 25

• NATIONAL PUMPKIN PIE DAY – December 25

  NATIONAL PUMPKIN PIE DAY

  On December 25th, National Pumpkin Pie Day dishes up the slice many Americans are looking for around the dinner table. As they enjoy time with family or friends, they also take the opportunity to honor the ever-humble and often favored pumpkin pie. 

  #NationalPumpkinPieDay

  Often eaten during the fall and winter months and invited to Thanksgiving and Christmas tables, in the United States, pumpkin pie is a traditional dessert. The pumpkin itself is a symbol of harvest.

  To make a pumpkin pie, the pulp of the pumpkin is mixed with eggs, evaporated and/or sweetened condensed milk, and sugar and is typically flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. 

  Cookbooks & Recipes

  Pumpkin pie recipes were found in seventeenth-century English cookbooks, such as Hannah Woolley’s 1675, The Gentlewoman’s Companion. A century later, pumpkin pie recipes began to appear in American cookbooks.

  Pumpkin pie became a familiar addition to the Thanksgiving dinner in the early seventeenth century when the pilgrims brought it back to New England. Initially, the pumpkin pie was prepared by stuffing the pumpkin with apples, spices, and sugar, then baking it whole.

  Not Just A Pie

  Many seasonal pumpkin pie flavored products fill the grocery store shelves. We find the flavor in ice cream, pudding, coffee, lattes, cheesecake, pancakes, candy, and even beer. All season long, advertisers pitch pumpkin in their seasonal drinks and scents.

  Candles, diffusers, and waxes promise to fill our homes with pumpkin pie scent. Before long, our homes smell like a bakery. Some of us haven’t turned on the oven since June. 

  The pie brings back such fond memories, too. Writers and poets include pumpkin pie in their seasonal poems, songs, and stories. The 1844 Thanksgiving poem, “Over the River and Through the Wood,” written by Lydia Maria Child, references pumpkin pie in one of its verses: “Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!” Another familiar one is the song, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” contains the lyric, “Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie, and we’ll do some caroling.”

  HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL PUMPKIN PIE DAY

  Enjoy a piece of pumpkin pie. Add a dollop of whipped cream. Share some good conversation and a cup of coffee while you celebrate. And use #NationalPumpkinPieDay to post on social media.

  NATIONAL PUMPKIN PIE DAY HISTORY

  As we serve up another slice, National Day Calendar continues researching the origins of this dessert-filled holiday.

  Pumpkin Pie FAQ

  Q. How many calories are in a slice of pumpkin pie?
  A. A 4-ounce slice of pumpkin pie contains 276 calories.

  Q. How many people does one pumpkin pie serve?
  A. Most pumpkin pies contain 6-8 servings.

  Q. Are there other pumpkin-related holidays on the calendar?
  A. Yes. National Pumpkin Seed Day and National Pumpkin Spice Day are two of them.

  Q. Are there other pie-related days on the calendar?
  A. Yes. Pie days are some of the most popular food holidays on the calendar. Celebrate these upcoming pie holidays:

  Pie Day
  Cherry Pie Day
  Banana Cream Pie Day

  June 17, 2014

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  National Day Calendar

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  December 25, National Day

• CHRISTMAS DAY – December 25

  CHRISTMAS DAY

  Every year on December 25th, over 2 billion people around the world celebrate Christmas Day. Traditionally, Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Nonreligious people and those of different faiths celebrate the day as a cultural event. 

  #Christmas

  Also known as Christmas Day, this holiday is derived from the Old English Crīstesmæsse which means Christ’s Mass. Today, Christmas is a public holiday in most countries. Only about a dozen countries do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday. Christmas traditions vary around the world and have evolved over time. They borrow from other traditions and cultures, too. Over time, beliefs and customs blended as peoples migrated and attitudes changed.

  One of the most popular Christmas customs is gift-giving. This custom has its roots in the Magi who brought gifts to Jesus shortly after his birth. Unfortunately, the gift-giving aspect of Christmas has led to its commercialization. On average, Americans spend $700 on Christmas gifts and goodies. Altogether, this equals $465 billion. In recent years, there has been a call to simplify the holiday and to get back to the “reason for the season.”

  Christmas Traditions

  • Candy canes

    While plain, unflavored candy sticks and canes existed as early as the 1600s, it wasn’t until 1920 that the hooked version became exceptionally popular. Bob McCormack of Albany, Georgia took the peppermint candy, gave it a red and white striped twist. His handmade candies were given a manufacturing boost when his brother-in-law and priest, Gregory Keller, invented the machine that launched Bob’s Candies into mass production. However, Keller’s invention wasn’t the first of its kind.

  • Poinsettia

    Another tradition that blossomed in the United States during the 1920s, the poinsettia’s legend takes place in Mexico. According to the legend, a girl wanted desperately to celebrate Jesus’s birthday. Worried, the girl feared she would have no gift to offer because she was so poor. An angel tells her to give any gift with love. After gathering weeds from alongside the road, the young girl placed them in the manger. Miraculously the weeds bloomed into beautiful red stars.

  • Christmas trees

    Evergreens, fir trees, and other plants have been a part of the winter festivals and traditions since ancient times. The first person to place a tree in a house for the purposes of Christmas may have been the German preacher Martin Luther in the 16th century.

  • St. Nicholas

    Legendary stories about the third century St. Nicholas later become part of the inspiration for the modern-day Santa Claus.

  • Mailing cards

    In Victorian England, sending Penny Post was inexpensive and frequent. Not responding to it was equally inexcusable. Being popular and busy led Sir Henry Cole to invent a holiday card nearly out of necessity. In 1843, he asked his friend, J.C. Horsley to illustrate a design he had in mind. Soon, Cole was off to the printer and the first Christmas card mailed in the Penny Post.

  • Caroling

    Wassailing and caroling history go hand in hand. Originally, wassail referred to a mulled, sweet drink. It came to be known as going from house to house during the winter months and eventually as caroling. The carolers are often given hot beverages to drink to keep them warm as they travel. Learn more about 7 Beloved Christmas Carols & Their Origins.

  • A Christmas Carol 

    A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published on December 19, 1843, and tells the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. So popular was the novella, the first theatre production took place within weeks of its publication. Since then, films, stage, and novels have presented a variety of adaptations much to the audiences’ delight.

  • Fruitcake

    The American tradition of eating – or giving – fruitcake at Christmas is somehow connected to the Victorian tradition of serving Christmas pudding. Both are molded, but that’s about where the similarities end.

  HOW TO OBSERVE CHRISTMAS

  Most Christmas traditions are celebrated in the days leading up to Christmas. In the morning, see what Santa has delivered. Gather with family and open presents around a decorated tree or have a meal together.

  Other traditions include:

  • taking pictures with Santa
  • baking cookies and goodies to exchange, such as fudge and gingerbread men
  • hanging lights
  • making ornaments
  • going to holiday concerts
  • watching holiday-themed movies, both old and new
  • opening Advent calendars

  No wonder many people call this the most wonderful time of the year! On Christmas Day, many families open their gifts in the morning. A special Christmas dinner follows complete with lots of goodies for dessert. The best thing about Christmas is that you can choose which traditions you want to keep. You can also have fun coming up with new traditions. Share your favorite Christmas Day traditions on social media with #Christmas.

  CHRISTMAS HISTORY

  It is debatable whether Jesus was born on December 25th. Nowhere does the Bible provide the exact date of his birth. If this is the case, why does the world celebrate Christmas on this day? The first Christmas ever celebrated happened in 336. It was during the time the Roman Empire was ruled by Constantine. He was the first Christian Roman Emperor. Under Constantine, Christianity spread into Northern and Western Europe.

  One of the earliest references to celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is in a homily by John Chrysostom, a 4th-century archbishop. Christmas is a relatively new celebration when considering church holy days. Passover, Lent, and Easter were celebrated long before Christmas.

  Winter Solstice

  These regions celebrated the Winter Solstice. Christmas adopted many of the customs associated with the Winter Solstice. These customs included decorating with evergreen trees and their boughs. It also included large feasts and a bearded man delivering gifts. In medieval times, Christmas was a solemn observance of the birth of Jesus Christ, and very little feasting, singing, and carousing was going on. The first record of the word “Cristes Maesse” being used was in a book from 1038 from Saxon England.

  As Christianity spread into northern and western Europe, Christmas adopted many of the customs associated with the winter solstice. Decorating with evergreen trees and their boughs, holly, and mistletoe, a bearded man delivering gifts and even the large feasts all hearken back to these celebrations.

  Caroling, Nativity scenes, and gift-giving (primarily to nobility with hopes of favors in return) began taking hold around the Renaissance period. Royalty and nobility had a considerable influence on this era. The Renaissance period covered a broad expanse of time (1300-1700) and was filled with an influx of inspiration, invention, and art. All of it influenced Christmas. Some Christians, like the Puritans didn’t celebrate Christmas at all. This was largely due to the holiday’s pagan background. Christmas was illegal in Massachusetts between1659 and 1681.

  Christmas in The United States

  One hundred years after the founding of the United States, Christmas became a federal holiday.

  By the mid to late 1800s, communication and transportation were changing rapidly. Time and distance isolated people causing customs and traditions to be diverse from place to place. Celebrations occurring in Georgia were completely unique from those celebrated in New York. Nearly overnight that began to change. Telegraphs and railroads made the passage of information and people, if not instant, significantly faster than ever before. Longing for the old days, for times when the family was a central theme in American’s lives, Christmas brought those nostalgic feelings under one significant day.

  Louis Prang, a German immigrant and printer by trade, introduced the American Christmas card in 1875. The Christmas card gradually replaced customs of personal visits or written Christmas letters.

  As the population grew, so did commerce and an increase in both charitable and personal gift giving followed. However, many givers and recipients still valued handmade gifts over store-bought.

  Literature such as Clement Moore’s poem An Account of Visit from Saint Nicholas (1823)and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) influenced the Norman Rockwell vision of the Christmas we celebrate today.

  June 11, 2014

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  National Day Calendar

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  December 25, Education & History, National Day, Pop Culture & Lifestyle

• A’PHABET DAY OR NO “L” DAY – December 25

  A’PHABET DAY OR NO “L” DAY

  A’Phabet Day or No “L” Day on December 25th brings a pun to Christmas Day. The play on words is a pun on the word Noël, which is especially notable during Christmas because it means “to be born.” 

  #AphabetDay or #NoLDay

  Many deride the pun. Others celebrate it. This day is for the punsters.  Shakespeare and O. Henry (there’s an annual competition in his name) played with meanings of words to the great delight of their audiences. Woven into the elaborate double entendre or the simple knock-knock joke, puns mean fun for all ages. They make PG movies enjoyable for adults, shooting slightly off-color humor over children’s heads for the parent’s or older sibling’s enjoyment.  

  Throw a yule log on the fire for No “L” Day.  You’ll be glad you did.

  Many headline writers unintentionally (or intentionally) create puns that cause outrage for those who would otherwise just find them punny. 

  Big rig carrying fruit crashes on 201 Freeway, creates jam ~ Los Angeles Times

  Clever children experimenting with language invent puns to entertain their friends and family.  

  What did the elf learn in school? The elf-abet. An elf might not like this day.

  HOW TO OBSERVE A’PHEBET DAY OR NO “L” DAY

  See if anyone catches on to the pun by avoiding the letter L in correspondence.

  Use #AphabetDay or #NoLDay to post on social media.

  A’PHABET DAY OR NO “L” DAY HISTORY

  Nationa Day Ca endar continues to research the origins of this punny day.

  A’Phabet FAQ

  Q. What if I don’t like puns?
  A. Say it ain’t snow.

  Q. What if I can’t come up with any puns?
  A. You need to believe in your elf.

  Q. Why should I celebrate this day?
  A. Clause we said snow!

  December 25th Celebrated (And Not So Celebrated) History

  1758

  Johann Georg Palitzsch sights Halley’s comet. His sighting confirms Edmund Halley’s prediction of the comet’s passage and it is the first comet to return as predicted.

  1830

  The first regularly scheduled steam locomotive passenger train in the United States made its first run. Named the Best Friend of Charleston, it covered six miles that Christmas Day, connecting 141 passengers to and from State and Dorchester Roads and Sans-Souci in Charleston, South Carolina.

  1941

  For the first time, Bing Crosby performed White Christmas by Irving Berlin on his self-named weekly radio show.

  1999

  Hubble Space Telescope gets new lenses. Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery complete maintenance work installing corrected optics.

  December 25th Celebrated (And Not So Celebrated) Birthdays

  Clara Barton – 1821

  On May 21, 1881, the Union Civil War nurse founded the American Red Cross. While traveling in Europe following the Civil War, Barton learned about the International Red Cross. Her knowledge during the Civil War motivated her to bring the benefits of the Red Cross to the United States.

  Louis Chevrolet – 1878

  In 1911, Louis Chevrolet joined with William C. Durant to found the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.

  Conrad Nicholson Hilton – 1887

  Hilton started building his hotel empire when he bought the Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas in 1919. From there, he survived the Great Depression and grew the corporation into an international company.

  Lila Wallace – 1889

  In 1922, Lila Wallace co-founded Reader’s Digest with her husband Dewitt Wallace.

  Cab Calloway – 1907

  During the 1930s, jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway rose to popularity at the Harlem Cotton Club. He also became known for his song “Minnie the Moocher” and stage performances.

  Rod Serling – 1924

  In 1959, the American television and producer introduced his best-known series, The Twilight Zone.

  June 11, 2014

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  National Day Calendar

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  Art & Entertainment, December 25, National Day, Pop Culture & Lifestyle