Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
December 7, 1941
“Seventy years ago today, a bright Sunday morning was darkened by the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor…We salute the veterans and survivors of Pearl Harbor who inspire us still. Despite overwhelming odds, they fought back heroically, inspiring our nation and putting us on the path to victory.” – President Barack Obama (2011)
Hanukkah
December 10-18
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
“At this time of year, when the sun is most hidden, the holiday of Hanukkah celebrates the rays of hope and light. Often, it is through simple and unrecognized miracles that we are able to feel the warmth of hope and light.”
– Rafael Goldstein
Bill of Rights Day
December 15
“A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth…and what no just government should refuse, or rest on interference.”
–Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787
“The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to and ought to enjoy.”
– Benjamin Franklin, 1774
Winter begins
December 21
“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.'” – Lewis Carroll
“Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people’s legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.”
– Sarah Addison Allen
“There’s just something beautiful about walking on snow that nobody else has walked on. It makes you believe you’re special.”
– Carol Rifka Brunt
Christmas – December 25
“Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin—inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night.”
– John J. Geddes
“Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.”
– Ruth Carter Stapleton
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.”
– Harlan Miller
Kwanzaa
December 26 – January 1
“Kwanzaa is a special time to remember the ancestors, the bridge builders and the leaders.”
– Dorothy Winbush Riley
Seven principals of Kwanzaa: Umoja – Unity; Kujichagulia – Self-determination; Ujima – Collective work and responsibility; Ujamaa – Cooperative economics; Nia- Purpose; Kuumba – Creativity; Imani – Faith
New Year’s Day
January 1, 2021
“Hope, Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering ‘it will be happier’…”
– Alfred Lord Tennyson
“Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.”
– Brad Paisley
A.A. Milne born January 18, 1882 (Quotes from Winnie the Pooh)
“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”
“The things that make me different are the things that make me me.”
“One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.”
Martin Luther King Day
January 18
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” – MLK, Jr.
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.” – MLK, Jr .