December 24 is the 358th day of the year
It is also Pungenday, The Aftermath 66, 3184 YOLD (discordian)
And let us not forget 13.0.6.1.14 by the Mayan Long Count

For some it is Christmas Eve. W00t, I suppose. For many of them, the fact that it isn't Christmas Eve for everybody in the world means that they are under attack and so is their winter holiday. Yes and no, but, not so much because ...
The War on Christmas started long ago. The opening salvo was not people using the abbreviation Xmas, nor the fact that some committed the supreme sacrilege of failing to Capitalize xmas, like they capitalize all other Nouns (which I believe that the Germans still do), or at least all Holidays, like Spring Break, Summer Solstice, and Vernal Equinox. It was also not the disgusting practice of recognizing the existence of other, accursed, faiths by using the locutions "Happy Holidays", "Seasons Greetings", "Holiday Season", and the like.

No, the attack was launched by the demon destroyer of all things good and decent, capitalism, and its innumerable minions. Hallmark was one of the early leaders in the campaign to convert this day into yet another excuse for runaway consumerist excesses and pointless purchasing, but its efforts were completely overshadowed by the masters of propaganda and psychological trickery, Madison Avenue . Long before Rancid Ronnie told us that greed is good, everybody already knew that this is the time to buy, buy, buy and to exchange and receive bountiful heaps of dreck beneath an extravagantly decorated conifer. Above I imply that the war on xmas isn't a thing, and that is true, because it is over. The marketing wallahs in their drive to make every moment of every day of every year nothing but a time for acquisition and consumption of ever more stuff, won. They won hands down, before many here were even born.

To the Victor belong the Spoils, as they say. I, for one, salute them.

(For the evil communists among you, some low-waste last minute gift ideas may be found at https://www.joyofzerowaste.com/ )

Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift, look out kid, ...

On this day in history:

1818 – The song "Silent Night" was performed for the first time
1871 – The Opera Aida premiered
1913 – The Italian Hall "disaster", an act of terrorism that caused the deaths of 73 partygoers, mostly striking miners
1914 – The "Christmas truce" began, a unique one-time freak of circumstances never since repeated.
1943 – Ike was named Supreme Allied Commander for the Normandy invasion.
1968 – The crew of Apollo 8 entered into orbit around the Moon
1973 – The District of Columbia Home Rule Act was passed

So, Silent Night stopped being simply "more damn Xmas music", imho, with this recording

Born this day in:

1731 – Julie Bondeli, salonist
1761 – Jean-Louis Pons, astronomer
1809 – Kit Carson, trapper, scout, general, prodigious slayer of animals and people.
1818 – James Prescott Joule, physicist and brewer
1868 – Emanuel Lasker, chess player and mathematician
1893 – Harry Warren, pianist and composer
1895 – Marguerite Williams, geologist
1898 – Baby Dodds, drummer
1903 – Joseph Cornell, sculptor, practiced assemblage
1907 – I. F. Stone, journalist and author
1910 – Fritz Leiber, author
1924 – Lee Dorsey, singer and songwriter
1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, author
1930 – Robert Joffrey, dancer and choreographer
1931 – Ray Bryant, pianist, arranger, and composer
1934 – John Critchinson, pianist and composer
1934 – Alex Hutchinson, musician
1941 – Mike Hazlewood, singer, composer and songwriter, not the motorcyclist, Tim
1944 – Woody Shaw, trumpeter
1952 – Michael Ray, trumpeter
1961 – Darren Wharton, singer, songwriter, and keyboards player

Died this day in:

1524 – Vasco da Gama, imperialist, pirate, murderer, and "explorer". A horrible, despicable person.
1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, author and poet
1872 – William John Macquorn Rankine, physicist, engineer, and polymath
1914 – John Muir, geologist, botanist, and author
1931 – Flying Hawk, Oglala Lakota leader, warrior, historian, educator and philosopher. A Truly remarkable human.
1969 – Cortelia Clark, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1971 – Maria Koepcke, ornithologist and zoologist
1972 – Gisela Richter, archaeologist and art historian
1992 – Bobby LaKind, singer, songwriter, and conga player
1997 – Toshiro Mifune, Yojimbo, role model for how to wear a man bun; (https://caucus99percent.com/content/sunday-open-thread-december-24-xmas-... , https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/24/1725668/-Sunday-Open-Thread-... )
2008 – Harold Pinter, playwright, screenwriter and director
2014 – Buddy DeFranco, clarinettist

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Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

The Last Day of Las Posadas
The Last Shopping Day Before Xmas

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Music goes here, iirc, well,

Silent Night Redux

Italian Hall Massacre

Viola de GambaVasco de Gama

Flying Hawk

Mifune

The True Meaning of Christmas

Remember, there are "Others"

Maybe try to end war one of these years, but only if you want to

And be aware, because you are ...

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Image is by Lukasz Radziejewski ans is public domain

It's an open thread, so do your thing