🔷 Xmas Special

Washington Crosses the Deleware

While you’re sipping on eggnog at 9 am this Wednesday, remember this—George Washington didn’t take Christmas off.

In the early morning of December 25, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River with 5,400 troops under the cover of darkness, hoping to surprise a sleeping passed-out Hessian force in Trenton that had tied one-to-many-on the night before.

It didn’t go as planned (less than half of Washington’s troops even made it across the icy river), but it was enough to overwhelm the smaller groggy hungover force. It wasn’t a strategic victory either (they eventually retreated due to a lack of troops), but the effort sparked hope that the British were not invincible.

It inspired someone to make a big ole painting about it—which also served as the backdrop for the absolute banger SNL skit sequel, Washington’s Dream 2.

Jingle Bells in Space

On December 16, 1965, while orbiting the earth, Gemini IV astronauts Tom Stafford (Air Force) and Wally Schirra (Navy) called Houston with a problem. They reported a satellite-like object in a low polar orbit trying to signal them.

As the bewildered people in Houston listened attentively, the astronauts whipped out a harmonica and bells and started playing Jingle Bells, marking a milestone—the first song ever performed in space.

The instruments are in the Smithsonian, and you can listen to the original recording here.

Silent Night

On Dec. 25, 1914, the first Christmas of World War I, the singing of Christmas carols in trenches across no man’s land led to an ad-hoc truce to celebrate the holiday together.

They sang Christmas carols, played soccer, and drank together. They also bartered cigarettes, candy, and other food items. It was a moment of peace in a bloody war.

The following day, they resumed fighting.

Wrong Number

In 1955, a little girl called the listed number in a Sears advertisement to talk to Santa. But the newspaper promotion had one small problem: the number had a typo.

Instead of Santa’s hotline, the newspaper promotion unknowingly printed the unlisted number for Continental Air Defense Command’s red phone. The officer on duty answered the phone and, after a short conversation with the girl, played it off by assuring her the safe passage for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Thus, a tradition was born.

Every December 24th, NORAD dutifully tracks Santa across the globe. The website gets fifteen million unique visitors from more than 200 countries and territories around the world, and volunteers answer over 130,000 phone calls from children every Christmas Eve. You can track Santa here.

N U T S !

On December 22, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st Airborne Division faced a dilemma. Surrounded in Bastogne, Belgium, a German delegation under a flag of truce presented a letter from their commander demanding their surrender.

Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, acting division commander, famously had a letter typed up for the delegation to return with. The full-page reply read:

“December 22, 1944
To the German Commander,
N U T S !
The American Commander"

This defiant and humorous answer was captured in a subsequent letter he wrote to the 101st Airborne Division on Christmas Eve.

That message encapsulated American resolve and helped rally the forces until Patton’s Third Army broke through to Bastogne days later.

Operation
Christmas Drop

In the early 1950s, a B-52 bomber crew flying over some remote Pacific islands spotted people waving and thought it would be nice to gather what items they had on board, affix a parachute to them, and toss it out the window.

This soon became a full-fledged charitable operation to drop Christmas cheer throughout the Pacific archipelago.

Today, the Air Force air-drops Christmas goods (and needed supplies) to 55 islands on what the islanders have come to call “drop day.” It remains the longest ongoing operation in U.S. military history, and Netflix made a movie about it.

Holiday Shower Thoughts

🎄 “Before electricity was invented, getting coal from me wouldn’t have been that bad.”

🎄“Christmas is the only time of year when eating snacks out of an unwashed sock hanging on a wall is acceptable.“

🎄“A gingerbread man living in a gingerbread house is like a human living in a house made of human skin.”

🎄"Eggnog is really just an alcoholic protein shake."

🎄“As much as we'd like to believe in Santa Claus, we'd be pretty terrified if we woke up one Christmas with a bunch of gifts we didn't buy sitting under the tree.”

🎄“A Christmas tree next to a roaring fireplace seems less quaint when you realize it’s a tree watching its friends being burned alive.”

🎄“If people know Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, it's pretty much a f*ckin’ guarantee that they’ll recall the most famous reindeer of all.”

source: reddit/r/showerthoughts

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