DID YOU KNOW ? NATIONAL BOXING DAY - DECEMBER 26

In ancient Greece a boxing match began with two boxers standing face to face,
their noses touching. Greek boxers wore leather thongs embedded with metal
studs strapped on their wrists. At one time metal spikes were added, too.

In the early days of boxing, when a boxer was getting beaten and wanted to
end the bout, he would take his sponge and toss it in the middle of the ring.
That's the origin of the expression "to throw in the sponge."

Before the Marquis of Queensberry rules for boxing were drawn up in 1867, all
prize fights in England and the United States were fought with bare knuckles.
Even as late as 1882, the great John L. Sullivan, then boxing champion of
the world, rarely fought wearing gloves.

7 WAYS OF SPEAKING OF NEW YEAR'S

1. The usual way to ring out the New Year is to drink out the old one.
2. On New Year's Eve, the old year ends with people mixing drinks, and theNew Year begins with drinks mixing people!
3. The best thing to give up in a New Year's resolution is to give up giving up.
4. Many a man who celebrates the arrival of the New Year should celebrate instead the survival of the old.
5. New Year's resolutions should be taken with a grain of salt - and two aspirins.
6. On New Year's Eve we first ring out the old, then ring in the new, and finally are ready to be wrung out ourselves.
7. One swallow doesn't make a summer, but it often breaks a New Year's resolution.

ITALIAN TOMATO GARDEN

An old Italian lived in New Jersey.  He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden,but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard.
His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.  The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,

I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year.  I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot.  I know if you were here my troubles would be over.
I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden.  That's where the bodies are buried.
Love, Vinnie
At 4a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies.  They apologized to the old man and left.
That same daythe old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now.  That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love, Vinnie

SANTA CLAUS ENJOYS GIFT - GIVING MISSION

"I really am Santa Claus," he said. "Call me St. Nicholas or St. Nick if you like. "Never," call me Old Nick. He's quite a different fellow." There he sat in his ermine trimmed crimson suit and stocking cap, which by trick of the soft December light did have some resemblance to a bishop's robes and miter. In spite of the snow white beard, he looked startlingly hale for a man born in the fourth century. Truth to tell, he appeared to be in the prime of life. "I was born in Lycia," he said, "which would be part of what today you call Turkey. I entered the priesthood and eventually became bishop of Myra. After I died, people decided I was a saint, probably because I had given a few twinkets away during my life. I suppose that's why I was picked for this job, and its wonderful. "I am a saint, of course, but that's not so big a thing," he added modestly. "There are many of us in heaven. As a matter of fact, many boys and girls I visted will, in God's good time, become saints themselves." As for living at the North Pole with a group of elves, "I would prefer not to give my exact address," he hedged. "I'm a busy man and there would be too much company." "Yes," he admitted, "I do visit all good boys and girls every Christmastide, but it's a bit more complicated. Most of you celebrate Christmas on December 25, others on Jan. 6. That's also the Epiphany, the day my friends Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar gave their gifts to the Christ Child. "Personally," he said, "I prefer to give the gifts on Christmas. After all, it is a birtday, we are celebrating." There is still the problem of how one person can visit so many houses with gifts for all those children in such a short time. "Actually," Santa explained, "many of those gifts you see under the tree are from moms and dads, grandparents, relatives and friends. Some are from me, of course, especially those for the poorest children, but I like to think of myself as a motivator; I encourage others by example." Santa doesn't agree with those who think the gift business over whelms the true meaning of Christmas. "For some, it's just a chance to make a dollar," he said. "But you can't frustrate the will of God. Whether you wish it or not, any instrument will reflect His honor and glory. We give gifts to others as a symbol of those gifts we would like to give to the Child Jesus. "The Holly Infant, after all, has everything, so you can only give Him your mind, your heart, your soul and your love. He explains it quite clearly for us in the Gospels: 'Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me,' That doesn't just mean children; it is th poor, the elderly, the forgotten, everbody." How does Santa spend his own Christmas? "To begin with I celebrate a vigil Mass," he said. "Remember, I am a bishop. Then, after my rounds to all the girls and boys, I like to go back to where it all began - Bethlehem. I go up into the shepherds field and look down upon the town, remembering how Mary and Joseph once told me it truly was. By the way, it wasn't different than the lovely traditions you learned as a child. "Then I meditate upon my rosary. It always happens just about the time I get to the third joyful mystery. The magnificent singing begins. I can hear the angels now: 'Glory to God on high; peace to His people on earth."

CHRISTMAS JOKE

Three men die on Christmas eve and go to heaven, where they're met by Saint Peter. "In order to get in," he tells them, "You must each produce something representive of the holidays." The first man digs into his pockets and pulls out a match and lights it. "This represents a candle of hope." Impressed, Peter lets him in. The second man pulls out a tangle of keys and shakes them. "These are bells." He's allowed in too. "So," Peter says to the third man, "What do you have?" The third man proudly shows him a pair of red panties. "What do those have to do with Christmas?" asked Peter. "They're carols".

A YANKEE DOODLE CHRISTMAS some triva about american christmas celebrations

1. Celebration of Christmas was banned in the colony of Massachusetts from 1659 - 1681. The puritans saw it as a pagan celebration. Businesses were open and churches shut. Exchanging gifts or singing Christmas Carols or missing school would result in a fine
2. Hessians, German soldiers hired by the British to help fight the Revolution abandoned their posts on Christmas of 1776 to celebrate around a candle-lit tree. Their celebration enabled George Washington and his army to cross the Delaware River undetected and defeat them at the Battle of Trenton - a turnign point in the American Revolution.
3. Congress was in session on December 25,1789, our country's first Christmas under the new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday in the US until 1870.
4. In an early example of psychological warfare, Abraham Lincoln asked illustrator Thomas Nast to create a drawing of Santa with some Union Soldiers. The image was to show Santa's support of the Union and thus demoralize the Confederate forces.
5. In 1889, the first White House Christmas tree was displayed by President Harrison. In 1895, President Cleveland added the innovation of electric lights to the tree. 
6. The tradition of the lighting of the National Christmas Tree began in 1923 when President Coolidge lit the tree erected on the Ellipse south of the White House. 
7. The tradition of the National Christmas Tree lighting has continued until today with a few exceptions. During World War 2, the lights were not lit as a security precaution. In 1963, the tree was not lit until December 22 because of a national 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy. In 1979 President Carter ordered only the star atop the tree be lit to remember the hostages being held in Iran. 
8. President Eisenhower was the first president to send out an official White House Christmas card. The tradition began in 1953 when Ike allowed one of his own paintings - of Abe Lincoln - to be printed on a card and sent out offically from the White House. 
9. President Theodore Roosevelt was an early conservationist. In 1902, he refused to have a Christmastree in the White House out of concern for the planet. His son Archie, however, had a small tree smuggled into his room and put up in his closet. Needless to say, when the word got out about the tree, the president was not pleased. 
10. The Salavation Army has been sending their iron kettles into the streets since 1890s when they began collecting to feed the poor at Christmas in San Francisco. 
11. The tradition of standing a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in NY City began in 1931 -- by construction workers building the well-known site. It was decorated with "strings of canberries, garland of paper, and even a few tin cans". The first time the tree waslit by electric lights wasn't until 1956.