Celebrate Every Day

Welcome to January 25th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the Sunshine State and a delicious cold weather cure. According to legend, the Fountain of Youth would grant anyone who drank from it the gift of long life. This story had existed for hundreds of years, but no one knew where it was. When the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon heard rumors from natives in the Caribbean, he s...

Welcome to January 24th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate honeyed words and spreadable gold. When comic book legend Stan Lee opened his mail one day in 1963 he got what can be called an enthusiastic letter from a fan. It read: “Fantastic Four #17 was greater than great. Even now I sit in awe of it. It was stupendous! It will live forever as one of the greatest of ALL comics.”...

Welcome to January 23rd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate winding words and the taste of home. After the fall of the Roman Empire, civilizations across Europe took many different paths. So did writing. All books were handwritten in Latin, but depending on the region, the script could look much different. Scribes each put their own spin on letters and sometimes a letter like S...

Welcome to January 22nd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate having fun with our kids the brownie’s blonde cousin. Charles Swindoll said that each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. Today is the day to make that investment count by letting our kids know how much we love them. Celebration of Life Day is about appreciating the Now, whether it’s a...

Welcome to January 21st, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate crafty critters and packable snacks. Each Fall, squirrels gather nuts and then bury them for safekeeping. Because of scavengers, squirrels can’t hide their stash all in one place and use a technique called “scatter hoarding.” A few nuts get buried here, a few there, and before you know it, the treasure is spread out ove...

Welcome to January 20th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate cheese glorious cheese and the staying power of those who spin records. If you’re a cheese lover then you won’t be surprised to learn there are 18 other cheese related holidays. But this one has your name all over it. For people who don’t understand all the fuss, here’s a clue. Science has determined that dairy proteins...

Welcome to January 19th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate versatile snacks and superfoods. In the world of science, the term quark refers to a subatomic particle. Recently, the word has also been adopted as the name of a popular European cheese. Quark cheese is similar in taste to cottage cheese, however, it doesn’t have curds. Instead, it’s smooth and creamy, most commonly us...

Welcome to January 18th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate silly old bears and ZIP codes that float. Author A.A. Milne brought the adorable, honey loving bear, Winnie the Pooh to life in his 1926 book series. The stories were inspired by a black bear named Winnie who lived at the London Zoo. The author’s son, Christopher Robin, would visit the bear often and named his own teddy...

Welcome to January 17th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate class acts and visionary dreamers. On December 31, 2021, actress, comedian, and producer Betty Marion White Ludden passed away at the age of 99. Born on January 17, 1922, Betty’s talent was so legendary that in 2018, Guinness World Records named her the female entertainer with the longest career. She first appeared in a...

Welcome to January 16th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate deep thoughts and a bite of cookie history. According to some philosophers, there is no such thing as nothing. With the very idea of thinking of the concept of nothingness, you’re proving that it doesn’t exist. That may sound like a big concept, but I think we can all relate. In the middle of our hectic lives, there’s a...

Welcome to January 15th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate causing a stir and carbs with a checkered past. It’s said that on this day in 1797, John Hetherington—a London hat maker—stepped out into the street wearing his latest creation. A top hat. And to say it made an impression is an understatement. According to reports, Mr. Hetherington “appeared on the public highway wearin...

Welcome to January 14th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a well traveled meat and the man who made all the difference just by rolling out of bed. Pastrami, in its original form, was created by the Ottoman Turks. Their version was a salt-cured, spiced beef or lamb called pastirma. Because of its jerky-like texture it traveled easily and traders brought it to Eastern Europe. It...

Welcome to January 13th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate sticky stories and a man who topped the charts. We see them every day, but have you ever paid attention to the stickers on many fruits and vegetables? These are known as PLUs, or "price look up" labels, and they’re the same everywhere around the world. So if you buy a banana in Germany the code on it will be identical t...

Welcome to January 12th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate historical healthcare and chickens with “kick.” Because of its busy port Philadelphia was one of the fastest-growing cities in the American Colonies. As the population grew, so did the need for medical care. Enter Benjamin Franklin. In addition to all of his inventions and political influence, Franklin helped create Ame...

Welcome to January 11th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate natural wonders and changing things up. Arkansas is known for many things, but it has a valuable surprise up its sleeve. The Natural State is home to the only active diamond mine in the country; the Crater of Diamonds, near Murfreesboro. Most of the gemstones mined from this location are colored brown or yellow. But the...

Welcome to January 10th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate cutting costs and savory soup. If you believe in the old adage that “a penny saved is a penny earned” then listen up! Did you know that tuning up your heating system can save from three to ten percent on your energy bill? And that’s not all. Tips such as carpooling, taking shorter showers and using energy efficient ligh...

Welcome to January 9th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate shocking effects and reaching great heights. Did you ever rub your feet on the carpet and then zap someone? Then you already know the magic of static electricity! When the positive and negative charges of an atom are out of balance and have nowhere to go they build up and stay static in one place, until they are released...

Welcome to January 8th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate curious keys and Anglophile treats. If you’ve ever looked at the top row of your keyboard, then you’ve noticed the made-up word QWERTY. How exactly did QWERTY come to be and not something more intuitive like alphabetizing the letters? Turns out that it was because the design was proprietary. The Remington company began p...

Welcome to January 7th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate delicious imports and wobbly heads. You may think of tempura as a Japanese dish, but the art of batter frying first came to Japan from Portugese missionaries. In the mid 16th century Nagasaki, Japan was a closed-port to most of the world, but the Portugese were allowed to bring in Catholicism and with it, a food that the...

Welcome to January 6th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate staying cozy and the age of technology. If you think you’re cold this winter, try living in Antarctica. In winter, the wind chills can plunge to minus 76°F. One of the only animals who can survive in this climate is the Emperor Penguin and they do it by cuddling together. Their system is simple; one penguin stands in pla...

Welcome to January 5th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate an exotic species and sweet inventions. The Hooded Pitohui is a colorful songbird that lives in the forests of New Guinea. The bird’s black and orange coloring is reminiscent of its cousin the oriole. But there’s something about the Pitohui other than its coloring that makes this bird stand out in the crowd—it’s poisonou...

Welcome to January 4th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the “Show Me” State and random facts that could pay off bigtime! The Mississippi River divides the United States roughly into half and crossing over it serves as the gateway to the western part of the country. To mark the crossing point, the city of St. Louis, Missouri, held a contest to find the best design for a landma...

Welcome to January 3rd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the sweet life and blowing off holiday steam. If life is a bowl full of cherries, why not have yours dipped in chocolate? Folks in the 1700s knew what a perfect mid-winter pick me up this candy could be. In England they included kirsch or cherry liqueur. Here in the United States the treat evolved into a sweet liquid cen...

Welcome to January 2nd, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a feast for everyone and a voyage of the imagination. In the mid 16th Century Swedish folks gathered around a Brannvinsbord, where they enjoyed a pre-dinner array of schnapps or shots of alcohol. This evolved into the smorgasbord or casual offering of appetizers and snacks before a more formal dinner. When the Swedes rol...

If you’re looking for a “hair of the dog” that bit you during last night’s reveling, consider the Bloody Mary. It’s become a brunch staple, but how did this drink get such a gruesome name? Many people assume it’s because of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s first daughter. But the widely accepted story is that a Paris bartender in the 1920s created a cocktail of tomato juice and vodka. One of the patrons l...