Today we celebrate:
Take A Walk Outdoors Day - I know it’s cold, but that doesn’t matter. It’s time to take a walk outdoors with your family. It’s important to stay in shape and get plenty of exercise. Walking is a great low impact exercise that almost everyone can do. I know the kids won’t want to do it with you but if you set a good example, they’ll come around. Particularly if you confiscate the games and phones until after the walk...you might be amazed at how eager they are to get going.
National Bill Cosby Sweater Day – This is a day to celebrate the amazing collection of sweaters that Bill Cosby wore when he was in “The Cosby Show” years ago. If you are old enough to remember that show, you will remember those sweaters. So dig around in your drawers or in your attic and find your best Cosby type sweater to wear today.
National Coffee Break Day – This is a day with dubious origins but the basic idea is pretty obvious. Enjoy your coffee break today.
National Buttercrunch Day – I like chocolate but I'm not a big fan of stuff mixed into it so I'll take a pass on this day. But for all those buttercrunch lovers, here's a recipe for you to try.
National Cheese Lover's Day – Finally! A day that my husband can get excited about. Cheese predates written history so we're not sure who first started the cheese making process. But there is some speculation that it was begun by Nomadic tribes who carried their milk in animal skins and organs. If milk is carried in an animal stomach, it will turn to curds and whey which doesn't sound appealing, but it's the beginning of the “turn into cheese” process, so the nomads probably enjoyed it.
National Penguin Awareness Day – Several species of these non-flying birds are endangered due to oil spills, climate changes and eroding habitat. A sad plight for this adorable little animal. Did you know that the Magellanic Penguin is named after Ferdinand Magellan? Mr. Magellan was the first to see them way back in 1520. Sadly, they live off the coast of Argentina, a place that apparently experiences a lot of oil spills and thousands of these adorable creatures are killed every year as a result.
Camcorder Day – Does anyone still have one of these? They were the latest, most exciting gadget when I was young. These days we usually use digital cameras to take videos.
National Disc Jockey Day – I think that most everyone listens to the radio at some point in their day. Today is the day to call up your favorite disc jockey and tell them how much you appreciate what they do. Where would we be without invisible people speaking to us and playing music for us through little boxes in our cars and houses?
National Squirt Your Children with Water Day – I come across purely made up days all the time. Well, this is my very own made up holiday. The idea came to me when my dog was begging for food at dinner one night a couple of years ago. We got out the spray bottle filled with water (which we never have to actually use anymore because he stops begging as soon as he sees it) and my husband put it on the edge of the table where the dog could see it. Then my son starts trouble with one of his sisters, as he often does, by telling her that we threw out something that she considered important. So my husband picked up the water bottle and squirted him with it. Much to our surprise, it had the immediate effect of stopping him in his verbal tracks, possibly because he was laughing too hard to pursue his troublemaking behavior, but regardless, it worked. So my husband spent the rest of the meal lording it over everyone and threatening them with the water bottle whenever my oldest daughter tried to be the mother of the house, my son started instigating trouble, or my youngest daughter started being fresh. I'm telling you that it worked. I told my husband that we should have done that years ago except that if we had, the kids would probably be afraid to take showers now.
National Kick A Ginger Day - This day was created by fans of “South Park”. They aired an episode that paralleled the holocaust using Red-Haired people instead of Jewish people as the recipients of the unreasonable discrimination and hatred. It is apparently supposed to be a warning against such behavior so as a joke, fans created this day. I would recommend that you do not actually kick any Gingers today.
Measure Your Feet Day – Do any of us really know how big our feet are? I know that mine are larger than they were before I had children. I've heard that our feet continue to grow after the rest of us has stopped so I'd always assumed that old people have really big feet. They don’t, of course, but maybe their feet are bigger than they were when they were young.
