We are gradually getting our house decorated for Christmas. Window candles, inside garland, the small tree for the "bears' window" and other things are in place. Next up -- the stockings on the stairway and then the main tree! The lights shown on this tie are like the ones my parents had, which were much hotter to touch than our LEDs.
Almost exactly one-third of our way through National Tie Month! Today's tie shows Santa skiing right through a reindeer game of football. Shelving those thoughts, here's a completely different subject: Many librarians celebrate 10 December as Dewey Decimal System Day, marking the birthday of Melvil Dewey (1851-1931).
Today (9 December) marks the 60th anniversary of the premiere of "A Charlie Brown Christmas"! My tie shows Charlie, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Sally and Woodstock. In 2020 Apple bought the rights to all of the Peanuts television specials, and so they are now available for streaming only through the Apple+ subscription service. Today I ordered the DVD for us!
Another snowy day in December, making the snowpeople on my tie very happy!! I'm not building a snowman today but I will brave the cold (wind chills in the teens) to fill my 18 bird feeders -- mixed seed, safflower, sunflower and suet -- and to fill our heated bird bath.
For the Second Sunday in Advent, I'm showing some Christmas penguins who are singing very peacefully. The theme for this Sunday is "Peace." You can see some veryhappy (and mostly peaceful) penguins at this video, titled "Christmas Music Theme: Happy Feet." I can't tell if any of those penguins are singing.
Merry Christmas to us, and Happy St. Nicholas Day! In September we decided to give ourselves tickets to a concert by Andrea Bocelli and the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, tonight at (giant) Rupp Arena. My tie celebrates Santa on skis!
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Here's my International Santa, wishing you a very Merry Christmas! This tie was a gift in 2008 from my friend Beth Blanchard (who was then working at EKU, in the International Services office). She got the tie (which is labeled Made in Italy) while on a trip to the United Kingdom.
Note about 5 December: Today marks the birthday of physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), famous for the uncertainty principle. It expresses the law in subatomic science that the more precisely you measure the velocity (momentum) of a particle, the less precision you can have for its position at that moment. So, on a grander scale, we can know with great precision that Heisenberg was born on 5 December but we may not be able to know exactly where that occurred. Haha!
On the French Republican Calendar (used briefly from 1793 to 1805), the date we know as 4 December was named 14 Frimaire, "Sapin," to honor the fir tree. Each day in that calendar was named for a plant or crop, a farm tool, or a farm animal. My tie with many decorated trees has a secret button that chirps "Silent Night." Happy Fir Tree Day!
With nothing special to note for 3 December, I am choosing to celebrate peppermint candy, a holiday favorite for many people. A recipe for making striped peppermint candy was first published in 1844. The red-and-white twisted canes became popular in the early 1900s, and soon showed up as a traditional Christmas decoration.
Our central Kentucky December weather kicks off with a winter storm watch and overnight snow. We didn't get enough to build a snowman but the ones on my tie are happy anyway.
For the first weekday in Advent 2025 I'm wearing my tie featuring Christmas bells and holly! My calendar shows that December is National Tie Month, so I'm starting it in good fashion. Two trivia in trademark history: Mr. Peanut was registered on this date in 1925, and the Scrabble board game was registered in 1948.
The theme for the First Sunday in Advent is HOPE. I hope you can enjoy this tie featuring Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger, looking forward to Christmas with the words "Time For A Little Holiday Something"!
I am challenging myself to share lots of Advent/Christmas ties between now and Epiphany. I may wear some just long enough to take my photos! I hope you will have a good holiday "something."
Happy Thanksgiving, again! Today we are gathering the family (14 of us) at Ben's house for our traditional turkey fest. My shiny tie hasn't been out of the closet since May 2021. It was a gift at my 50th birthday celebration (2003), and it clearly deserves to be seen!
Calendar note: 29 November is "Electronic Greetings Day," celebrating the creation of emailed greeting cards, 1994. I enjoy making animated, personalized e-cards at JibJab.
Happy Thanksgiving! I am very thankful to all who have helped me celebrate neckties. This one was a birthday present (in August) from grandson B. M. My tie bar celebrates the birthday of temperature-scale-creator Anders Celsius (1701-1744).
I have not tried to count the friends and family who have given me ties, but it must be scores. Since April 2008 I have tried to share my joy with you and others (including my students at EKU) through my blog reflections. Today I'm also thankful for the joy in seeing new growth from the garlic I planted in early October'!
We're having lunch today (as usual) with Mom Wilma Wollenweber. This family tradition has been followed roughly weekly since mid-2008. My purple shirt and purple-patterned tie were a birthday gift to me from Mom and Dad in August 2009!
