What to Celebrate December 27, 2021 thru January 2, 2022
Celebration Ideas for December 27, 2021 – January 2, 2022
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
And to everyone else: Enjoy your long weekend, if you get it off.
And for everyone: Keep up the holiday cheer all week with whatever unofficial celebrations strike your fancy. Then have a very happy New Year’s celebration.
Now it’s time, for the last time in 2021, to take a peek and plan your week. And as always …
Enjoy!
Celebrate for the rest of December
Keep celebrating your favorite December month-long events. Like Bingo’s Birthday Month. As long as you’ve got family together, have a Bingo night or 2!
And the Audubon Christmas Bird Count is still going on until Jan. 5. If any circles near you haven’t done their counting yet, you may still be able to help!
And of course, National Impaired Driving Prevention Month remains important. Because nobody wants to ring in the New Year with a DUI or worse! Please make sure you have a designated driver so you can get home safely and plan to celebrate more unofficial holidays all through 2022.
Weekly Celebrations for 12/27/2021 to 1/2/2022
Bring the year to a close by getting that to-do list done and honoring the saints of the season.
It’s About Time Week (December 25 – 31, 2021): It’s about time you check off all those last-minute things from your 2021 to-do list!
Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25, 2021 – January 5, 2022) : Yes, in case you didn’t realize, the 12 days of Christmas actually start on Christmas and run through Epiphany. They are not a countdown to Christmas! And despite all the maids-a-milking and lords-a-leaping and golden rings, each day actually celebrates a different saint. Learn a bit about the days here.
Celebration Days coming up for Dec. 27 thru Jan. 2
You might think it’s time to give the celebrating a rest for a few days. Well, you’d be wrong! Between watching short films and watching needles fall off the tree, along with visiting the zoo, playing cards, and tossing fruitcakes, there’s plenty of ways to have one final fun-tastic week for 2021!
December 27:
Visit the Zoo Day: The week between Christmas and New Year’s is for relaxing (yes, really!), and a day wandering the zoo and enjoying the animals is perfect for that. So grab the family and do just that!
Howdy Doody Day: Do you remember Howdy Doody? If you do, you’re old! 😉 (Like me … but older 😕) The popular puppet and his human, Buffalo Bob, debuted on this date in 1947. Why not watch some episodes to celebrate?
National Fruitcake Day: Enjoy a slice or two of your favorite fruitcake. Don’t like fruitcake? You just haven’t tried a good fruitcake yet! (Yes, they do exist) Maybe try making this Free Range Fruitcake from Alton Brown.
December 28:
Endangered Species Act Day: Endangered Species Day is in May. But in December we celebrate the passage of the Act that helps protect endangered species … those that manage to get listed anyway. Back when Congress could still manage to get things done it passed the Endangered Species Act on this date in 1973. Maybe take some time to learn how we can all help protect endangered species to celebrate.
Pledge of Allegiance Day: Our Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 (probably) and changed a bit over time to become the Pledge we know today. It wasn’t until December 28, 1945 that Congress made the Pledge official. At the time the Pledge was “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The phrase “under God” wasn’t added until 1954.
National Short Film Day: On December 28, 1895 the Lumière brothers gave birth to the motion picture industry. The place was the Grand Café in Paris. The show was 10 short films around a minute in length. And those (less than) 10 minutes revolutionized the entertainment world. Watch some some short films to celebrate. Or watch your favorite regular-length movie. After all, it’s descended from those first 10 short films.
National Card Playing Day: Relax and recharge for your Tuesday evening with a card game or two.
National Chocolate Candy Day: Eat your favorite chocolate candies! Eat them while watching short films or playing cards. Or anytime at all.
December 29:
Tick Tock Day: No, we didn’t misspell TikTok. The “tick tock” in this day’s name refers to the passage of time, as in the sound clocks used to make. It’s your reminder that the year’s coming to an end, so whatever you need to get done before then, this is the day to do that.
YMCA Day: Celebrate the anniversary of the very first YMCA in America. It opened in Boston on December 29, 1851. “The Y” empowers young people, inspires action, and improves well being with its after-school activities, youth work, and other programs throughout the country. Why not learn more about its programs for the day?
National Pepper Pot Day: Make dinner a pot of “the soup that won the war”. As the story goes, this soup helped rejuvenate the troops of the Continental Army at Valley Forge in 1777. And ultimately helped them win the Revolutionary War. This is probably more legend than truth (especially since it seems to be a Caribbean dish), but make a pot of pepper pot soup to celebrate the day anyway.
December 30:
Falling Needles Family Fest: As the year comes to a close, gather round the Christmas tree one more time to watch its needles drop to the floor one by one. And then get that dying fire hazard out of your house!
National Bicarbonate of Soda Day: Bicarbonate of soda (otherwise known as baking soda) is magical stuff, useful all around the house. If you don’t already know, discover some of the many ways bicarbonate of soda can make life easier.
Bacon Day: Eat bacon. ‘Nuff said.
December 31:
Make Up Your Mind Day: Do like the day’s name says and make a decision! Make 2 or 3 or more decisions, even. End the year—and start the new year—without loose ends hanging over your head.
Universal Hour of Peace: Lift your voice for peace. If you’re still awake at 11:30 pm on Dec. 31, recite the Universal Peace Covenant to help promote peace in the world.
World Healing Day: Celebrate healing and peace with meditation and prayer at noon Greenwich time (7 am Eastern). Similar to the Universal Hour of Peace, this time of meditation aims to use the power of many consciousnesses focuses on one issue at the same time to promote and effect peace and healing in the world. Note: This World Healing Day is different from the one in April.
New Year’s Eve Banished Words List: Check in with Lake Superior State University to see which overused words from 2021 are to be banished from our vocabularies in 2022. Although if you take a look at the list for 2021 we still seem to hear most of them almost every day, so we can’t help but wonder if we shouldn’t just recycle that list!
National Champagne Day: Ring in the New Year with the bubbly!
January 1
Z Day: For this day we put people whose names start with “Z” first. Celebrate them. Let them go ahead of you in line. Buy them a coffee. Or a meal. Eat & drink only things that start with Z too (ok, maybe not only). And visit the zoo to see some zebras (yes, even if you did that earlier in the week)! Basically, have fun with it.
St. Basil Day: Celebrate St. Basil with a big feast to bring luck. And don’t forget the Vasilopita!
National Fruitcake Toss Day: On the 1st Saturday in January we toss those fruitcakes we’re not going to eat! Now you could certainly just toss them in the trash, but why not take a cue from the original Fruitcake Toss event and see how far you can throw them?
Public Domain Day: This is the day when more works enter the public domain, available to us all to use as we wish. In 2022 copyrighted works from 1926 enter the public domain in the US, along with sound recordings from 1922 and earlier (due to a 2018 law). Of course, earlier works are already in the public domain. But a quick look at the new stuff is just amazing. See what new public domain works you might like to use to spark your own creativity.
First Foot Day: Scottish and Northern English tradition says the first person to step into the home (first foot) brings good fortune in the coming year. If you want that to be you, make sure you’re outside when midnight strikes and let yours be the first foot back in the house on Jan. 1.
National Bloody Mary Day: Although the “hair of the dog” isn’t really the best way to get rid of a hangover, some people still believe it is. And for those people we present a way to do just that. Hopefully you’re functional enough to make yourself a Bloody Mary. Or you have someone who can make one for you. 😊
January 2
Happy Mew Year for Cats: Well of course the cats get their very own new year after us peasant humans celebrate ours. Because they deserve it, that’s why! 😻
National Science Fiction Day: Celebrate Isaac Asimov’s birthday with all your science fiction favorites.
World Introvert Day: For once we celebrate the introverts! The quiet ones, the ones who don’t need (or even want) to be surrounded by people & chatter. For this day there’s no “encouraging” introverts to be more extroverted or social. For this day we ask the “rest of the world” to understand & accept us just the way we are!
National Buffet Day: If there’s a buffet open near you, take a break from the kitchen (you’ve been in there plenty lately!) and make dinner a little bit of everything from your favorite buffet.
National Cream Puff Day: And for dessert? It’s cream puffs! If you’re not ready to completely stay out of the kitchen, consider making cream puffs to enjoy and share.
