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November      December     January
Zodiac: Sagittarius      Nov 22 - Dec 21     Flower: Narcissus      Birthstone: Turquoise


December, originally the tenth month, takes its name from the Latin word decem, which means “ten.” The month is traditionally a time of gift-bearing due to the Christmas holidays, St. Nicholas Day, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

1
World Aids Day     FACTOID: Since 1988, 1st December has been a day bringing messages of compassion, hope, solidarity and understanding about AIDS to every country in the world, North and South, East and West.

Rosa Parks (b. 2/14/1913  d. 10/24/2005), a black seamstress of Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested because she refused to give up her front section bus seat to a white man, 1955.     www.rosaparks.org
2
Monroe Doctrine presented by President James Monroe, 1823.

First atom split, 1942.
3
Gilbert Stuart, American painter of famous George Washington portrait, born 1755.  FACTOID: Paintings were popular since photography was not invented yet.

Illinois became the 21st state (settled in 1720), 1818.
4
Space Milestone - US International space station launched, 1977.
5
Walt Disney, Animator, born 1901.

Martin Van Buren, 8th President (1837), first native U.S. president, born 1782.

Hanukkah (Sundown 21st-29th) [2008]
6
 
7
Pearl Harbor Day - Pacific War started by Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941.

First concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra presented 1842.

Delaware, became the first state (settled in 1638), 1787. FACTOID: First of the original thirteen colonies.
8
James Thurber, author of Greatest Man in the World, born 1894.

Eli Whitney, who invented Cotton Gin on March 14, 1794, born 1765.

Jan Igenhousz, Dutch physician who discovered Photosynthesis, born 1730.

Delaware River Crossing by George Washington, 1776. FACTOID: Washington actually crossed to fight the Hessians, the German mercenaries hired by the British. The flag in this historic painting had not been designed at the time of the crossing.
9
 
10
Mississippi became the 20th state (settled in 1699) 1817.

Emily Dickinson, American writer, born 1830. (d. 1886)
11
Aurora Borealis, brilliant, colored lights high in the Earth's atmosphere, usually seen in the polar regions and usually associated with magnetic storms & streaks of sunlight was first recorded, 1719.

Indiana became the 19th state (settled in 1733), 1816.

Robert Koch, German microbiologist who discovered the causes of Cholera & tuberculosis, born 1893.
12
Pennsylvania became the 2nd state (settled in 1682), 1787. FACTOID: One of the original thirteen colonies.

Washington D.C. was established as the capital of the United States, 1800.

First radio signal sent across Atlantic Ocean from England to Newfoundland in North America by Guglielmo Marconi, 1901.
13
Sir Francis Drake, an Englishmen, began an exploration to circumnavigate the world, 1577.

New Zealand was discovered by Abel Tasman of the Netherlands, 1642.

Saddam Hussein, [b. April 28, 1937] president of Iraq since 1979, was captured in an underground bunker in Iraq after allied forces declared war on Iraq for his refusal to destroy nuclear weapons of mass destruction and his involvement in terrorist activities. [2003]
14
South Pole reached by Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer, 1911.

Alabama became the 22nd state (settled in 1702), 1819.

First US state highway authorized by Kentucky, 1793.

George Washington died at Mount Vernon, VA, 1799.  FACTOID: Eulogy by Colonel Henry Lee had the famous words, "To the memory of the man, first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
15
Bill of Rights (First 10 Amendments to the Constitution) adopted by US Congress, 1791.

John Paul Getty, Oil magnate, born 1892.

Nero, Roman Emperor, born 37 A.D.
16
Boston Tea Party, 1773.   FACTOID:  Three ships in November 1773 were emptied of 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor so no one could benefit from the tea or be taxed.

Jane Austen, English novelists, born 1775. [d. 7.18.1817]
17
Wright Brothers Day:  First motor powered airplane by Orville (born August 19, 1871) & Wilbur (born April 16, 1867) Wright flown over the sand dunes near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for twelve and fifty-nine seconds, respectively in 1903.  FACTOID: The two brothers were bicycle mechanics who crafted their homemade contraption whittled out of hickory sticks, gummed together with Arstein's bicycle cement stretched with muslin wings sewed with their sister's sewing machine.    www.firstflight.org

Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer, born Bonn, Prussia, 1770.   FACTOID:  Became totally deaf at age 45, and later wrote "Ode to Joy." Died 1827, age 57.
18
New Jersey become the 3rd state (settled in 1660), 1787. FACTOID: One of the original thirteen colonies.

Thirteenth Amendment to United States Constitution ratified, abolishing slavery, 1865.

Stephen Spielberg, directing movies for such films as Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, born 1947.
19
Washington's Continental Army encamped at Valley Forge,  11,000 men had to survive with barely any food or clothing in 1777.
20
USSR formed, 1922.

Sacagawea, American Indian guide for Lewis & Clark  from 1804 to 1806, served as a guide and interpreter on their trek to the Pacific Ocean, died, 1812.  FACTOID:   2004 - 2006 will celebrate the Bicentennial Years of Lewis & Clark expeditions.

Louisiana Purchase negotiated, 1803.   FACTOID: Thomas Jefferson arranged for the U.S. to pay $11,250,000 for 828,000 square miles of land, less than .03 per acre, one of his most notable achievements as president.
21
Forefather's Day - Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620.  FACTOID:  Plimoth Plantation re-creates the life and site of the Pilgrim's first village at Plymouth, MA.  For more information visit  www.plimoth.org

Joseph Stalin, Russian leader, born 1879.

Apollo 8 spacecraft launched by U.S., 1968.

Winter begins     FACTOID: The Sun is farthest from the equator and its apparent northward motion along the horizon ends.
22
A Coelacanth, a fish thought extinct for 65,000,000 years, was caught off the coast of South Africa, 1938.
23
Sarah Breedlove Walker, black businesswoman "millionaire", born 1867.

U.S. Federal Reserve banks created 1913; they later opened November 16, 1914.
24
War of 1812 ended by United States and Great Britain's signing of the Treaty of Ghent, 1814.

The Ku Klux Klan, a secret fraternal society, founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, 1865.

"Silent Night" composed, 1818.

Christmas Eve
25
First appearance of Sherlock Holmes, the detective, 1887.

Clara Barton, founder of The American Red Cross on January 5, 1905, born 1821.

Isaac Newton, English physicist and philosopher, born 1642.

Christmas Day
26
Mao Tse-tung, Chinese leader, born 1893.

Dec 26-1st - Kwanzaa

The most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted under the Indian Ocean near Sumatra. A resulting Tsunami crashed ashore in 11 countries in southern Asia and eastern Africa killing over 250,000 people. Massive destruction and devastation everywhere, 2004.

Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the U.S., dies at the age of 93. [2006]
27
Louis Pasteur, French scientist, born 1822.

Johannes Kepler, Astronomer who founded the "celestial mechanics" having been the first to explain planetary motion, born 1571. Died 1630.
28
Chewing gum patented 1869.

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President (1913), born 1856.

Iowa became the 29th state (settled in 1788), 1846.
29
Battle at Wounded Knee, 1890.

Andrew Johnson, 17th President (1865), born 1807.

Texas became the 28th state (settled in 1682) 1845.
30
Andres Vesalius, Flemish anatomist first described the human body in detail, 1514.

Rudyard Kipling, British writer of Just So Stories, Jungle Book, and Captains Courageous, and a Nobel prize winner born, 1865.

Saddam Hussein was hanged for ordering the deaths of 148 Shiite men and boys in the village of Dujail after an assassination attempt there in 1982, 2006.
31
New Years Eve

Ellis Island, United States Immigration Depot opened 1890.

Lord Cornwallis, British General who surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown, ending the Revolutionary War, born 1738.

 

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