2024 December Trivia and History

Name History

Latin: December. From the word decem, ten (it was the 10th month in the old Roman calendar). The Latin name is derived from Decima, the middle Goddess of the Three Fates who personifies the present.

December is:

• National Awareness Month

Special 2024 December weeks:

• Computer Science Education Week - 9th-15th (week of 9th)
• Kwanzaa (from December 26th to January 1st.)
• Hanukkah starting at sunset on December 25th for 8 days (December 25th - sunset of the 33rd).

Special 2024 December Days:

•  1st* • (Sunday)  World Aids Day
•  2nd* • (Monday)  Cyber Monday (Monday after Thanksgiving)
•  3rd* • (Tuesday)  Giving Tuesday (Tuesday after Thanksgiving)
•  7th* • (Saturday)  National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (flags are flown at half-staff)
•  8th* • (Sunday)  Feast of the Immaculate Conception
• 10th* • (Tuesday)  Human Rights Day
• 15th* • (Sunday)  Bill of Rights Day
• 17th* • (Tuesday)
  •  Pan American Aviation Day
  •  Wright Brothers Day
• 21st* • (Saturday)  Winter Solstice Universal Time*
• 24th* • (Tuesday)  Christmas Eve
• 25th* • (Wednesday)
  •  Christmas Day
  •  Hanukkah/Chanukah (begins at sundown on the evening of the 25th in 2024, and continues for 8 days; nightfall of 25th - nightfall of 33rd)
• 31st* • (Tuesday)
  • First Night Celebration (noon to midnight)
  •  New Year's Eve*

December special historical dates:

• 1982 - 23rd - A blizzard covered the Midwest, including Omaha.
• 1948-9 - Nov-Apr - A blizzard covered the Midwest for several months.
• 1865 - 6th - Slavery in the United States was officially abolished when the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
• 1856-7 - Dec 1-Jan - First major blizzard after settlement of the states started.

Quotes relating to December

• “At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.” • William Shakespeare

• “I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• “Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man
the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!” • Charles Dickens

• “Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a half penny will do.
If you haven't got a half penny, then God bless you.” • Traditional English Christmas rhyme

• “Each Christmas I remember
The ones of long ago;
I see our mantelpiece adorned
With stockings in a row.

Each Christmas finds me dreaming
Of days that used to be,
When we hid presents here and there,
For all the family.

Each Christmas I remember
The fragrance in the air,
Of roasting turkey and mince pies
And cookies everywhere.

Each Christmas finds me longing
For Christmases now past,
And I am back in childhood
As long as memories last.” • Carice Williams, Christmas Past

• “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly, I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Leonore
For the rare and radiant maiden who the angels name Lenore
Nameless here for evermore.” • The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849

Lyrics relating to December

•  “I still remember the third of December, me in your sweater
  You said it looked better on me than it did you
  Only if you knew how much I liked you
  But I watch your eyes as she - From Kid Crow - Heather” • Conan Gray
•  “December
  You've always been a problem child
  December
  You run me down right restless and wild and I remember
  When you used to be mine
  December oh
  December oh” - From December” • Sara Bareilles
•  “December come to me
  I hope I can see
  You not just in dreams.” - From December” • Norah Jones
•  “Nobody knows
  What it takes to mend her
  She don't like the cold
  But she snows like December” - From December” • Viking Barbie
•  “Song Title: Beyond December. - From Beyond December” • Katy Perry
•  “December starts on Sunday
  Next Sunday, won't you feel happier then?” - From December” • Regina Spektor
•  “Come back, O lover
  If just for a day
  Turn bleak December
  Once more into May” - From Trees on the Mountains” • Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi
•  “December promise you gave unto me
  December whispers of treachery
  December clouds are now covering me
  December songs no longer I sing.” - From December” • Collective Soul