DAILY DAYS OF DECEMBER - HISTORICAL TIMELINE AND NATIONALLY OBSERVED DAYS/RANDOM HOLIDAYS

DECEMBER 1

• 1640: A nationalist revolution in Portugal led to independence from Spain as the Spanish garrisons were driven out of Portugal.
• 1822: Dom Pedro, founder of the Brazilian Empire, was crowned as the first emperor of Brazil.
• 1918: Iceland was granted independence by the Danish parliament.
• 1941: The American Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a U.S. Air Force auxiliary, was founded, as Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, signed the formal order. The CAP currently provides aerospace education, a CAP cadet program, and emergency services such as locating missing aircraft.
• 1955: The birth of the modern American civil rights movement occurred as Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back section of a municipal bus. Her arrest resulted in a year long boycott of the city bus system by African Americans and led to legal actions ending racial segregation on municipal buses throughout the South.
• 1994: England was connected to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice Age as engineers digging a railway tunnel under the English Channel broke through the last rock layer.
• 1994: The head of the U.N. Commission on Rwanda estimated 500,000 deaths had resulted from genocide.

Eat a Red Apple Day

National Pie Day

Rosa Parks Day

Day Without Art

Bifocals at the Monitor Liberation Day

National Cookie Cutter Day

National Peppermint Bark Day

National Women Support Women Day

World AIDS Awareness Day

DECEMBER 2

• 1804: Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France by Pope Pius VII in Paris.
• 1823: President James Monroe introduced his “Monroe Doctrine” during his annual message to the Congress, prohibiting any further colonization of the American continents by European powers, stating, “we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety…”
• 1942: Physicists led by Enrico Fermi carried out the world’s first successful nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago.
• 1971: The United Arab Emirates was formed, consisting of seven Arab kingdoms on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula including the former Trucial states Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al Qaiwain, and Fujairah. Ras al-Khaimah became a member in 1972. The area has some of the world’s largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas.
• 1982: The first permanent artificial heart was implanted in 61 year old Barney C. Clark by Dr. William De Vries at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Clark, who was near death at the time of the operation, survived 112 days after the implantation.

Cyber Monday

World Trick Shot Day

National Day of Giving

National Bartender Day

National Fritters Day

National Mutt Day

Special Education Day

World Pollution Prevention Day

DECEMBER 3

• 1962: Edith Sampson was sworn in as the first African American female judge, after she was elected associate judge of the Municipal Court in Chicago.
• 1984: A deadly gas leak (of methyl isocyanate) at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed at least 3,000 persons and injured more than 200,000.

Candle Day

Giving Tuesday

National Package Protection Day

National Roof Over Your Head Day

DECEMBER 4

• 1791: The Observer, now the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, was first published in Britain.

National Cookie Day

National Dice Day

Cabernet Franc Day

Wildlife Conservation Day

National Back Friday

National Sock Day

Santa’s List Day

Wear Brown Shoes Day

DECEMBER 5

• 1492: Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus.
• 1791: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died a pauper at age 35 in Vienna, Austria. He had become seriously ill and rapidly declined, leading to speculation that he had been poisoned, although this was later proven false. During his brief life, he created over 600 musical compositions and is widely considered one of the finest composers who ever lived.
• 1955: The AFL-CIO was founded after two separate labor organizations, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, joined together following 20 years of rivalry, thus becoming the leading advocate for trade unions in the United States.

Bathtub Party Day

Celebrate Shelter Pets Day

National Sacher Torte Day

Faux Fur Friday

International Ninja Day

National Blue Jeans Day

Repeal Day

Walt Disney Day

World Soil Day

DECEMBER 6

• 1492: The island of Hispaniola was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Today the island is divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
• 1877: At his laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison spoke the children’s verse “Mary Had a Little Lamb…” while demonstrating his newly invented phonograph which utilized a revolving cylinder wrapped in tinfoil to record sounds.
• 1917: Two ships collided at Halifax, Nova Scotia, resulting in an explosion that killed more than 1500 persons and injured 8000. The Norwegian ship Imo collided with the French munitions ship Mont Blanc, which was loaded with supplies for the war in Europe, including 5000 tons of TNT. A tidal wave caused by the explosion destroyed much of the city.
• 1973: Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president under Richard Nixon following the resignation of Spiro Agnew who pleaded no contest to charges of income tax evasion.

National Gazpacho Day

National Microwave Oven Day

National Play Outside Day

Mitten Tree Day

Skywarn Recognition Day

National Miner’s Day

National Pawnbrokers Day

St. Nicholas Day

DECEMBER 7

• 1787: Delaware became the first state to adopt the new constitution of the United States of America.
• 1941: The U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese aircraft in a raid that lasted just over one hour and left nearby 3,000 Americans dead.

Hanukkah

International Civil Aviation Day

Letter Writing Day

National Slime Day

National Illinois Day

National Cotton Candy Day

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

National Cotton Candy Day

Pearl Harbor Day

DECEMBER 8

• 1980: Former Beatle musician John Lennon was assassinated in New York City, New York, USA.

Bodhi Day

Christmas Jumper Day

International Children’s Day

National Crossword Solvers Day

Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day

National Brownie Day

National Lard Day

DECEMBER 9

• 1992: Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Prince Charles and Princess of Wales, Dianna.

Christmas Card Day

National Llama Day

Lutefisk Day

Weary Willie Day

National Pastry Day

DECEMBER 10

• 1898: The Treaty of Paris was signed between American and Spanish representatives following Spain’s defeat in the Spanish-American War. Under the treaty, the U.S. gained the Philippine Islands, the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico, and an agreement by Spain to withdraw from Cuba. The treaty passed by a single vote in the U.S. Senate on February 6, 1899, and was signed by President William McKinley four days later.

Dewey Decimal System Day

Human Rights Day

International Animal Rights Day

National Lager Day

Nobel Prize Day

DECEMBER 11

• 1901: The first transatlantic radio signal was transmitted by Guglielmo Marconi from Cornwall, England, to St. John’s, Newfoundland.
• 1998: The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment charging President Bill Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice.

International Mountain Day

National App Day

National Stretching Day

National Noodle Ring Day

White Elephant Day

UNICEF Day for Change

DECEMBER 12

• 1870: Joseph Hayne Rainey of Georgetown, South Carolina, became the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. He filled a seat which had been declared vacant by the House and served until 1879.

Choral Day

Gingerbread House Day

National Salesperson Day

National Ambrosia Day

National Unity Day

National Ding-a-Ling Day

Poinsettia Day

DECEMBER 13

• 1642: New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman of the Dutch East India Company.

National Cocoa Day

National Cream Cheese Frosting Day

National Horse Day

Pick a Pathologist Day

National Ice Cream Day

Violin Day

U.S. National Guard Birthday

DECEMBER 14

• 1911: Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole.
• 1939: The League of Nations expelled Soviet Russia for its aggression against Finland.
• 1962: The Mariner II space probe sent back information from the planet Venus, the first information ever received from another planet.

Free Shipping Day

International Monkey Day

National Alabama Day

National Wreaths Across America Day

National Bouillabaisse Day

Roast Chestnuts Day

DECEMBER 15

• 1791: The Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution) became effective following ratification by Virginia.
• 1939: Gone With the Wind had its world premiere in Atlanta, introduced by producer David O. Selznick and featuring appearances by Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.
• 1964: Canada adopted a new national flag featuring a red maple leaf on a white background.
• 1995: European Union leaders announced their new currency would be known as the Euro.

Bill of Rights Day

International Tea Day

National Lemon Cupcake Day

National Regifting Day

Cat Herders Day

National Wear Your Pearls Day

Ugly Sweater Day

DECEMBER 16

• 1773: The Boston Tea Party occurred as colonial activists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded British ships anchored in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 containers of expensive tea into the water.
• 1835: A massive fire erupted in New York City, destroying more than 600 buildings, causing an estimated $20 million in damages.
• 1944: American big-band leader Glenn Miller disappeared in a small plane over the English Channel and was presumably killed. Best remembered for Moonlight Serenade and In the Mood.
• 1969: The British House of Commons voted 343-185 to abolish the death penalty in England.

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Barbie and Barney Backlash Day

National Underdog Day

DECEMBER 17

• 1903: After three years of experimentation, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first powered, controlled airplane flights. They made four flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the longest lasting about a minute.

National Maple Syrup Day

National Say it Now Day

Wright Brother’s Day

DECEMBER 18

• 1916: During World War I, the Battle of Verdun concluded after ten months of fighting in which 543,000 French and 434,000 German soldiers were killed.
• 1956: Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
• 2019: Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. President, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress. The charges alleged that Trump sought help from Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, to interfere with the 2020 presidential election, and that Trump attempted to obstruct the House’s impeachment inquiry by directing his aides to ignore subpoenas for documents and testimony. Trump was acquitted on February 5, 2020 when the U.S. Senate failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.

Bake Cookies Day

National Twin Day

Answer the Telephone Like Buddy the Elf Day

National Crime Junkie Day

National Roast Suckling Pig Day

DECEMBER 19

• 1732: Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard’s Almanac containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, eventually selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.
• 1998: The House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, approving two out of four Articles of Impeachment, charging Clinton with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.

Look for an Evergreen Day

National Hard Candy Day

National Oatmeal Muffin Day

National Hard Candy Day

Oatmeal Muffin Day

DECEMBER 20

• 1699: Czar Peter the Great changed the Russian New Year from September 1 to January 1 as part of his reorganization of the Russian calendar.
• 1860: South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union in a prelude to the American Civil War. Within two months Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded. In April 1861, Virginia seceded, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy with a population of 9 million, including 4 million slaves. The Union had 21 states and a population of over 20 million.

Go Caroling Day

Mudd Day

National Sangria Day

DECEMBER 21

• 1846: Anesthesia was used for the first time in Britain during an operation at University College Hospital in London performed by Robert Liston who amputated the leg of a servant.
• 1988: Pan American Flight 103 exploded in midair as the result of a terrorist bomb and crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 passengers and crew members along with 11 persons on the ground were killed.

Crossword Puzzle Day

National Maine Day

National French Fried Shrimp Day

Anne and Samantha Day

Don’t Make Your Bed Day

Humbug Day

Look on the Brightside Day

National Flashlight Day

Winter Solstice

Phileas Fogg Win a Wager Day

National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day

World Snowboard Day

DECEMBER 22

• 1783: Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, Maryland, George Washington, victorious Commander in Chief of the American Revolutionary Army, appeared before Congress and voluntarily resigned his commission.

Mathematics Day

National Cookie Exchange Day

National Date Nut Bread Day

Forefathers’ Day

DECEMBER 23

• 1888: Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear during a fit of depression.

Festivus

National Christmas Movie Marathon Day

National Roots Day

National Pfeffernusse Day

DECEMBER 24

• On Christmas Eve, the bells of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow rang for the first time since the death of Lenin.

Christmas Eve

Last Minute Shopper’s Day

National Eggnog Day

DECEMBER 25

• In Romania, a television broadcast of a Christmas symphony was interrupted with the announcement that Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife had been executed following a popular uprising. A pro-democracy coalition then took control. Ceausescu, a hard-line Communist, had been ousted from power after ordering his black-shirted state police to suppress a disturbance in the town of Timisorara, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 4500 persons.

Christmas 

National Pumpkin Pie Day

A’Phabet Day or No “L” Day

DECEMBER 26

• 2004: An estimated 230,000 persons were killed and 1.5 million left homeless when a magnitude 9.3 earthquake on the seafloor of the Indian Ocean set off a series of giant tsunami waves that smashed into the shorelines of a dozen countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and Somalia.

Boxing Day

Kwanza

National Candy Cane Day

National Thank You Note Day

National Whiners Day

DECEMBER 27

• 1831: Charles Darwin set out from Plymouth, England, aboard the ship HMS Beagle on his five year global scientific expedition. Darwin collected fossils and studied plants and animals, gradually beginning to doubt that many diverse species of living things had sprung into existence at one moment (creationism). In 1859, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
• 1945: The International Monetary Fund was established in Washington D.C.

Lego Build Day

Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day

National Fruitcake Day

DECEMBER 28

• 1832: John C. Calhoun became the first American ever to resign the office of vice president. He served under Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson and resigned after a series of political disagreements with President Jackson. He went on to become a U.S. Senator from South Carolina.

National Card Playing Day

National Call a Friend Day

National Short Film Day

Pledge of Allegiance Day

Holy Innocents Day

National Chocolate Candy Day

DECEMBER 29

• 1170: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by four knights acting on orders from England’s King Henry II.

International Cello Day

Pepper Pot Day

Tick Tock Day

Still Need to Do Day

DECEMBER 30

• 1803: The Stars and Stripes flag was raised over New Orleans as the United States took formal possession of the territory of Louisiana, an area of 885,000 square miles, nearly doubling the size of the U.S. The territory had been purchased from France for approximately $15 million.

National Bacon Day

Falling Needles Family Fest Day

National Bicarbonate of Soda Day

National Resolution Planning Day

DECEMBER 31

• 1781: The first bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, received its charter from the Confederation Congress. It opened on January 7, 1782, in Philadelphia.

Make Up Your Mind Day

National Champagne Day

No Interruptions Day

Leap Second Time Adjustment Day

New Year’s Eve

Unlucky Day

FIRSTS AND INVENTIONS OF DECEMBER

1948: Scrabble was copyright registered, marking a significant moment in the world of board games.

1924: Wrigley’s gum was trademark registered, becoming a popular brand for chewing gum.

1937: Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was copyright registered.

December 1, 1959: First color photograph of earth from outer space taken from the nose of a missile launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

December 9, 1884: The first U.S. patent for ball-bearing roller skates was issued to Levant M. Richardson of the Richardson Skate Company, Chicago, Illinois

December 16, 1884: The first U.S. patent was issued for an automatic liquid vending machine to William H. Fruen of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 25, 1741: The Centigrade temperature scale was devised by astronomer Anders Celsius.

December 21, 1898: The radioactive chemical element radium is discovered.

December 1891: Pepsi was first served.

December 10, 1901: The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on 12/10/1901.

December 18, 2009: The film Avatar was released.

December 1992: The first text message sent was Merry Christmas in December 1992.

December 17, 1892: The first issue of Vogue magazine was published.

December 19, 1997: The movie Titanic was released.

December 1953: First issue of Playboy magazine was published.

December 1891: First game of basketball, a sport invented by Dr. James Naismith, was played.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

Robert Irwin - 12/01

Andrew Tate - 12/01

Bette Midler - 12/01

Pablo Escobar - 12/01

Aaron Rodgers - 12/02

Britney Spears - 12/02

Ozzy Osbourne - 12/03

Amanda Seyfried - 12/03

Tiffany Haddish - 12/03

Jelly Roll - 12/04

Jay-Z - 12/04

Tyra Banks - 12/04

Orlando Brown - 12/04

Walt Disney - 12/05

Marie Tussaud - 12/07

Larry Bird - 12/07

Eli Whitney - 12/08

Sinead O’Connor - 12/08

Donny Osmond - 12/09

Frank Sinatra - 12/12

Bob Barker - 12/12

Taylor Swift - 12/13

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel - 12/15

Ludwig van Beethoven - 12/16

Ty Cobb - 12/18

Steven Spielberg - 12/18

Brad Pitt - 12/18

Christina Aguilera - 12/18

Harvey Firestone - 12/20

Joseph Stalin - 12/21

Jane Fonda - 12/21

Ryan Seacrest - 12/24

Sir Isaac Newton - 12/25

Mao Zedong - 12/26

Jared Leto - 12/26

Woodrow Wilson - 12/28

Denzel Washington - 12/28

Andrew Jackson - 12/29

Tiger Woods 12/30

LeBron James - 12/30

Anthony Hopkins - 12/31

Donna Summer - 12/31

FUN FACTS

December is the most popular month for engagements, with Christmas Eve being particularly favored.

The Mona Lisa was recovered in December 1913.

December’s birth flower is the narcissus.

The Christmas song Jingle Bells was originally a Thanksgiving song.

In the United States, more pizza is consumed during December than any other month.