December 23

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith born (1805); Businesswoman Madam CJ Walker born (1867); Vincent van Gogh cuts off his ear (1888); Voyager aircraft is first to fly around the world without refueling (1986).

December 21

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres (1937); F. Scott Fitzgerald dies (1940); Track and field star Florence Griffith Joyner born (1959); French President Emmanuel Macron born (1977); Bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people (1988).

ANNE AND SAMANTHA DAY

"Celebrated bi-annually on the summer solstice and the winter solstice, Anne and Samantha Day honors Anne Frank and Samantha Smith."https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/ann-samantha-day-december-22?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12070388&hashed_email=6c23328441e0f46865e8039a24ce7ccf8880f2d7&email=yeremiah%40aol.com

MUDD DAY

"Mudd Day on December 20th annually recognizes the birthday of Dr. Samuel Mudd, a man whose name was mud after his dealings with one man."

https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/mudd-day-december-20?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12055630&hashed_email=6c23328441e0f46865e8039a24ce7ccf8880f2d7&email=yeremiah%40aol.com

December 20

Louisiana Purchase finalized (1803); Sacagawea dies (1812); "It’s a Wonderful Life" released (1946); Astronomer Carl Sagan dies (1996); Space Force becomes sixth US armed forces branch (2019).

December 19

First edition of "The American Crisis" published by Thomas Paine (1776); French entertainer Édith Piaf born (1915); First National Hockey League game played (1917); President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Christmas message is first radio broadcast from space (1958); President Bill Clinton is impeached (1998).

December 18

Mayflower arrives at Plymouth Harbor (1620); 13th Amendment formally adopted in Constitution, abolishing slavery (1865); Steven Spielberg born (1946); Singer Billie Eilish born (2001); Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor dies (2016).

December 17

Wright brothers make first successful airplane flight (1903); Pope Francis born (1936); "The Simpsons" makes television debut (1989); American actress Jennifer Jones dies (2009); North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il dies (2011).

December 16

Ludwig van Beethoven born (1770); Boston Tea Party occurs (1773); Author Jane Austen born (1775); Anthropologist Margaret Mead born (1901); World War II’s Battle of the Bulge begins (1944).

December 13

Diplomat George Shultz born (1920); Actor Dick Van Dyke born (1925); Taylor Swift born (1989); 10 new countries announced to join European Union (2002); Saddam Hussein captured by American forces (2003).

December 14

President George Washington dies (1799); Author Shirley Jackson born (1916); Actress Patty Duke born (1946); Eugene Cernan is last person to walk on the moon (1972); Twenty children and six staff murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012).

December 12

US Founding Father John Jay born (1745); First transatlantic radio signal sent by Guglielmo Marconi (1901); Frank Sinatra born (1915); Singer Dionne Warwick born (1940); Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore certifies George W. Bush as president (2000).

December 11

King Edward VIII abdicates throne to younger brother King George VI (1936); Germany and Italy declare war on the US (1941); John Kerry born (1943); Musician Sam Cooke dies (1964); Model Bettie Page dies (2008).

December 10

Encyclopædia Britannica first published (1768); Poet Emily Dickinson born (1830); Inventor Alfred Nobel, founder of Nobel Prizes, dies (1896); Spanish-American War ends (1898); Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies (2006).

December 9

Actor Kirk Douglas born (1916); Actress Dame Judi Dench born (1934); “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuts (1965); Diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche dies (1971); World Health Organization declares smallpox eradicated (1979).

December 7

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award winner Ellen Burstyn born (1932); Pearl Harbor naval base bombed by Japan, killing 2,403 US personnel (1941); Basketball legend Larry Bird born (1956); Apollo 17, the final Apollo moon mission, is launched (1972); Sound barrier-breaking pilot Chuck Yeager dies (2020).

December 6

13th Amendment of the US Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery (1865); Washington Monument completed (1884); Hollywood actress Agnes Moorehead born (1900); NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo born (1994); NASA photographs suggest presence of liquid on Mars (2006).

December 5

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies (1791); Walt Disney born (1901); Rosa Parks helps lead Montgomery bus boycotts (1955); 21st Amendment ratified in the US, repealing the nationwide ban on alcohol (1933); Nelson Mandela dies (2013).

December 4

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes dies (1679); President Woodrow Wilson travels to Versailles for WWI peace talks, is first US president to travel to Europe while in office (1918); Jay-Z born (1969); Tyra Banks born (1973); American journalist Terry Anderson released after more than six years as hostage in Lebanon (1991).

Clive Staples Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1898 to a family of avid readers. Lewis, too, was soon immersed in literature: He started reading at just 3 years old, and by age 5, he had begun writing stories about a fantasy land populated by “dressed animals.”

Years later, a 19-year-old Lewis served in World War I with the Somerset Light Infantry. He experienced trench warfare on the front line in the Somme, the horrors of which he carried with him for the rest of his life.

Lewis first met J.R.R. Tolkien in 1926, and the two men developed a lifelong friendship. Lewis, who had become an atheist early in life, found his way back to theism and Christianity under Tolkien’s guidance. Tolkien, meanwhile, openly credited Lewis as a major source of creative encouragement: “Only from him,” wrote Tolkien, “did I ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought The Lord of the Rings to a conclusion."

Lewis himself was a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction. The latter included books and essays of Christian apologetics in which he passionately promotes and defends Christianity. Christian themes are also highly prevalent in his works of popular fiction, which include The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy, and, most famously, The Chronicles of Narnia.

December 3

Rock star Ozzy Osbourne born (1948); Actress Julianne Moore born (1960); First human heart transplant carried out (1967); Mikhail Gorbachev and George HW Bush declare end to Cold War (1989); Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks dies (2000).

December 2

Abolitionist John Brown dies (1859); US Environmental Protection Agency formed (1970); Britney Spears born (1981); Benazir Bhutto becomes first female prime minister of Pakistan (1988); Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed (1993).

Rosa Parks

"Rosa Parks Day honors an American Civil Rights hero twice a year on February 4th or December 1st. "

https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/rosa-parks-day-december-1?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11798497&hashed_email=6c23328441e0f46865e8039a24ce7ccf8880f2d7&email=yeremiah%40aol.com