by B.L. Unkel | Mar 2, 2024 | History
Happy Texas Independence Day! The Land & People In 1821, when Mexico won its independence from Spain, the nation’s northern regions (which included what is now Texas) were sparsely populated. To protect its claim on this land, Mexico continued Spain’s...
by B.L. Unkel | Feb 17, 2024 | History
President’s Day is just around the corner, and it’s time to learn something new about our presidents. The Beginning Congress added George Washington’s birthday (February 22) to the calendar of federal holidays for Washington D.C. in 1879. Then, in 1885, his...
by B.L. Unkel | Jan 6, 2024 | Everything Else
On January 1, I did something I hadn’t done since I was a child. I watched part of the Rose Parade, before watching the day’s slate of football bowl games. History It all began with tourism. In the winter of 1890, Pasadena, California’s illustrious Valley Hunt...
by B.L. Unkel | Dec 23, 2023 | Holidays
Christmas customs and traditions are many and varied. One of the best-known, at least in the U.S., is the Christmas tree. Evergreens Evergreen trees, like mistletoe and other evergreen plants, have been used in pagan and Christian winter festivals for thousands...
by B.L. Unkel | Dec 16, 2023 | Everything Else
What do Christmas, Druids, a Norse god, and bird droppings have in common? Mistletoe, of course! The Plant Mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant that grows in large spherical clumps on a wide variety of hosts—trees and shrubs. Some mistletoe clumps can get as...
