It’s Christmas Day 2022. When I was a child the first thing I’d check was to see if Santa had eaten the cookies and taken the carrots. He always did. There were always an extra couple of gifts with a “From Santa” tag on them. It was easy to ignore the logistical impossibility and focus on the hard facts: The Cookies Were Gone!! We only have two items on the celebratory events today: Christmas and Pumkin Pie Day. That’s enough for me. Now some history: This is the day in 337 that Christmas was first celebrated on December 25th. On this day in 1066 William the Conqueror was crowned King of England completing the Norman conquest of England. On this day in 1492 Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria ran aground and sunk on the North coast of Hispaniola. The crew made it to shore and started a colony. On this day in 1621 Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony forbad game playing on Christmas. This is the day in 1776 that George Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised and defeated 1,400 Hessians. On this day in 1831 Louisiana and Arkansas were the first states to observe Christmas as a holiday. In 1868 on this day, despite bitter opposition, President Andrew Johnson granted unconditional pardons to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion. This is the day in 1939 that Montgomery Ward introduced the 9th reindeer. It had a red nose and was named Rudolph. On this day in 1857 a young Richard Starkey found a drum set under his Christmas tree. You know him as Ringo Starr. It sucks to die on Christmas, but people still do. Dean Martin did and he said, “Your lips and mine, two sips of wine, memories are made of this.” So did James Brown who said, “You got to use what you got to get just what you want.” Charlie Chaplin died on this day and said, “Life laughs at you when you are unhappy; Life smiles at you when you are happy; But life salutes you when you make others happy.” That’s a good quote to end on. Merry Christmas. Abide.
