Friday 12/23/22
Celebrate:
Festivus
HumanLight
National Pfeffernusse Day
National Roots Day
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A site in the U.K. called "Find My Past" went through 14 BILLION historical documents from the past 500 years, and looked for people with festive, HOLIDAY-themed names.
The most common one was "Ivy." They found 2.3 million Ivys since the 1500s, and "Angel" is next at 652,000. But the list gets more and more fun as you go.
"Present" is third . . . "Holly" is fourth . . . "Star" is fifth . . . and over 300,000 babies have been named "Wine".
"Santa," which means "Saint" in Spanish, is seventh at 158,000. Then "Chestnut," 142,000 . . . "Christmas," 132,000 . . . and over 25,000 kids have been named "Turkey."
That's the top ten. But the less-common names are even better.
In the past 500 years, at least 3,200 kids have been named "Reindeer" . . . 2,600 have been named "Tinsel" . . . over 2,000 have been named "Mistletoe" . . .
579 have been named "Snowman" . . . 284 kids have been named "Nutcracker" . . . and they found records of 23 people named "Eggnog."
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While most everyone speaks of the 3 Wise Men who visited Jesus, there is actually no mention anywhere in the Bible of the number of Magi (Wise Men). The number 3 came about primarily by the number of gifts they brought to Him. Early Christian art shows as few as 2, and Christian Tradition in the Orient, where they came from, holds the number at 12. But the New Testament gives absolutely no mention of how many Wise Men there were.
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Reindeer can change the color of their eyes. Their eyes change from golden brown to blue during the dark Arctic winter months to help them catch more light.
Also, Santas Reindeer might just be female. Both male and female reindeer grow antlers, while in most other deer species, only the males have antlers. Compared to their body size, reindeer have the largest and heaviest antlers of all living deer species. A male’s antlers can be up to 51 inches long, and a female’s antlers can reach 20 inches.
Unlike horns which are never shed, antlers fall off and grow back larger each year. Male reindeer begin to grow antlers in February and female reindeer in May. Both sexes finish growing their antlers at the same time but shed them at different times of the year. Males drop their antlers in November, leaving them without antlers until the following spring, while females keep their antlers through the winter until their calves are born in May.
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Sweden celebrates Christmas with a giant, straw Yule Goat.
In Scandinavian countries, the Yule goat figures into the Christmas decor of many homes. In Norse mythology, the two goats pulled Thor's flying chariot the same way reindeer do for Santa's sleigh. On top of that, there's also a festive tale that focuses on an invisible Yule goat that checks in on holiday prep before the big day. That's why, in 1966, the Gävle Goat was created in an effort to draw shoppers to the Swedish city where it resides. Standing 42.6 feet high and seven meters in length, it also weighs a whopping 3.6 tons.
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This will be great to do in the next few days when it’s really cold!!! If the area where you live falls below 32°F this winter, go outside and blow bubbles with your kids. They will magically turn into ice bubbles!
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In the 1823 poem, A Visit from Saint Nicholas, which originally introduced the world to Santa's reindeer, two of the flying creatures had slightly different names, according to Syracuse.com. Donner and Blitzen were instead Dunder and Blixem, which is a Dutch way to refer to "thunder and lightning."
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These days, artificial Christmas trees are made of materials that are meant to mimic real evergreens and last for as long as possible. But when these fake festive trees were first displayed in Germany around 1865, they were made of goose feathers that were dyed green.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - There are two towns in the U.S. with Santa names . . . not counting the Spanish, "saint"-inspired names like Santa Monica, California.
There's the unincorporated town of Santa, Idaho, which has embraced its connection to Santa Claus in the past . . . but was actually named after the nearby Santa Anna Creek.
And there's Santa Claus, Indiana, which is home to about 2,500 people. The origins of the name are vague . . . but it's been Santa Claus for over 125 years now.
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