Yes, there are (somehow) even more holidays coming up this month.
December 2: Earmuff Day
Some places get so cold in the winter that the regular get-up of coat, hat, scarf, and gloves just isn’t enough — earmuffs must be worn over the old hearin’ flaps to keep them warm. Early December is when a lot of people have to start wearing them, and they’re the invention of Chester Greenwood. He came up with the idea in 1873 when his ears got cold while ice skating, and he had his grandmother sew some fur onto the ends of a wire. Amazingly, Greenwood was only 15 years old at the time. For his ingenuity, his birthday is also “Earmuff Day.”
December 9: Weary Willie Day
You might not know the name “Weary Willie” but you certainly the man. If you’ve ever been to a gift shop, thrift shop, or slightly kitschy art gallery, you’ve probably seen a “sad clown” painting or two. The inspiration for most of those paintings was a real clown named Emmett Kelly, and his circus character “Weary Willie.” Kelly was a longtime performer with circuses and appeared on TV, in films, and on Broadway, and was probably the most famous clown in the world. December 9 is his birthday, and thus that of Weary Willie, too.
December 17: A Christmas Carol Day
Every Christmas movie, Christmas TV special, and most Christmas stories owe their existence to the pioneer of holiday fiction: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. (Full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas.) It’s the moving story about a miserly, Christmas-hating industrialist named Ebenezer Scrooge who learns the real meaning of Christmas after being visited by ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. Not only has it been adapted and parodied countless times (our personal favorite is 1992’s Muppet Christmas Carol), but terms like “Scrooge” and “humbug!” have entered the vernacular. Read Dickens’ original text or watch a film adaptation on this day to commemorate it first being published on December 17, 1843.
December 21: Celebrate Short Fiction Day
Some of the most important and talented authors in history wrote more than just novels: They wrote short fiction, such as novellas and short stories. Since today is the Winter Solstice, a.k.a. the shortest day of the year, today is the day to curl up with a good collection of short stories by, say, Flannery O’Connor, F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Uncle John.
December 30: Bacon Day
As if every day weren’t unofficially Bacon Day, the second-to-last day of the year actually is Bacon Day. You know how to celebrate: Go for bacon over sausage, add bacon to that grilled cheese sandwich, and enjoy nature’s saltiest, fattiest treat in all its glory.