Author: Caitlin Schneider

filed under: holidays, weird-holidays

If you’re feeling sad that the holidays are over, fear not: the first month of the year is chock-full of very fun, very specific, and sometimes very weird holidays to help you ease your way into 2017. Just because the most festive season is over, doesn’t mean there isn’t still a ton to celebrate.

1. JANUARY 2: HAPPY MEW YEAR FOR CATS DAY

This punny day is basically just another occasion to honor our feline friends. What more do we need to say?

2. JANUARY 4: DIMPLED CHAD DAY

A dimpled chad is when someone attempts to punch a hole in a sheet of paper, but the cutout remains attached and leaves just a dent. So … the opposite of what’s happening in the photo above. You might remember the term from the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

3. JANUARY 9: NATIONAL CLEAN-OFF-YOUR-DESK DAY

It’s a new year! Time to get organized, and this desk-piration is here to get you motivated.

4. JANUARY 9: NATIONAL THANK GOD IT’S MONDAY! DAY

Apparently there are people who like Mondays? This offbeat holiday is all about the possibility that comes with a fresh start, which we guess we can get behind.

5. JANUARY 10: POETRY AT WORK DAY

Don’t panic: this is not about your coworker doing an open mic in the conference room. Instead, it’s about encouraging you to see the poetry in your everyday tasks, and putting those fuzzy feelings into verse.

6. JANUARY 11: LEARN YOUR NAME IN MORSE CODE DAY

My name is -.-. .- .. – .-.. .. -. … -.-. …. -. . .. -.. . .-. ! (For the lazy among us, the internet has Morse code translators.)

7. JANUARY 12: NATIONAL HOT TEA DAY

Chances are, it’s cold out there. Warm up with a piping hot cup o’ tea.

8. JANUARY 13: BLAME SOMEONE ELSE DAY

If you’ve got any mistakes you want to unload, today’s the day.

9. JANUARY 16: NATIONAL NOTHING DAY

See that blank calendar? That’s what this “un-event” is all about.

10. JANUARY 17: JUDGMENT DAY

Be advised, this comes just a few days after Blame Someone Else Day.

11. JANUARY 17: KID INVENTORS’ DAY

Encourage a kid to make something on this day.

12. JANUARY 23: NATIONAL PIE DAY

We could write a 10,000 word ode to pie, but we’ll just eat a lot instead.

13. JANUARY 25: A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN DAY

There’s no better occasion than the anniversary of author Virginia Woolf’s birthday to find a room for you and only you.

14. JANUARY 28: LOCAL QUILT SHOP DAY

Take your crafty resolutions to a local quilt shop, where there are actual human beings to help you with your sewing screw-ups and quilting conundrums.

15. JANUARY 29: CURMUDGEONS DAY

Not even the festivities-averse can escape their own dedicated holiday.

16. JANUARY 30: INANE ANSWERING MESSAGE DAY

It’s 2017 and you might not even listen to answering messages much anymore, so take this day to give thanks for that.

Holidays found in Chase’s Calendar of Events 2017. All photos courtesy of iStock.

January 1, 2017 – 12:00am

December 31, 2016

A Brief History of “Auld Lang Syne”

filed under: History, holidays, music

Image credit:

Every New Year’s Eve, after the champagne has been popped, the ball has dropped, and everyone is feeling very merry indeed, revelers queue up the same song they’ve been queuing up for decades. You know the one—it makes you cry, even though you don’t understand it and know almost none of the words.

A handful of options pop up when you search for the meaning of “auld lang syne”: “times/days gone by,” “old time’s sake,” “long long times/ago,” and even “once upon a time” among them. The most common consensus is something like “for old time’s sake,” which is about as direct an interpretation as you can get, as the word-for-word translation is “old long since.” The line about “for auld lang syne” is essentially, “for (the sake of) old times.” (For the record, it never says the totally nonsensical “for the sake of auld lang syne.”) Beyond the words themselves, there’s even less agreement about exactly how the tune came to be a New Year’s Eve tradition.

The song originated as a poem, but it probably wasn’t written by Robert Burns as is commonly believed—at least not entirely. The poet was simply the first person to write down an old Scottish folk song (it bears more than a passing resemblance to “Old Long Syne,” a ballad that was printed by James Watson in 1711). Burns himself said, “I took it down from an old man,” and whether it was transcribed or co-authored, it’s safe to say that the “Auld Lang Syne” we know today is some combination of an old poem and Burns’ creative input.

In any case, Burns sent a copy of the poem to a friend in 1788 and wrote: “There is more of the fire of native genius in it than in half a dozen of modern English Bacchanalians!” Later he contributed it to the Scots Musical Museum.

Five years later, Burns wrote to James Johnson, who was assembling a book of old Scottish songs: “The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man.”

It’s unclear whether Johnson linked Burns to the song in his credits, but by the time the book was published in 1796, the poet was dead. He’d never know that those words would eventually help secure his own cultural immortality.

The words aren’t the only element that evolved over the years; it’s believed that the original tune is different than the one we drunkenly hum along to today. Originally, the song had a more traditional folk sound, one that can be heard in (of all things) 2008’s Sex and the City movie. This version is still performed today, but with much less frequency than the New Year standard. The melody we all know was used at the suggestion of music publisher George Thompson.

How then, did a Scottish folk song with a murky provenance and nothing at all to do with New Year’s Eve become associated with the holiday? It’s largely thanks to bandleader Guy Lombardo. In 1929, Lombardo and his band played “Auld Lang Syne” as transitional music while performing at New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel during a New Year’s Eve broadcast. It was played just after midnight, and heard over radio and television airwaves, inadvertently spawning a global tradition.

Today, “Auld Lang Syne” is one of the most recognizable songs around the world, where it’s played at funerals, celebrations, and as a warning that closing time is approaching at stores throughout Japan.

To impress your date this New Year’s Eve, learn the the correct words here—and don’t worry too much about the meaning. As Sally Albright says: “Anyway, it’s about old friends.”

December 31, 2016 – 7:00am

December 21, 2016

15 Things You Should Do at Least Once a Year

filed under: Lists

Image credit:

ISTOCK

Just handling day-to-day tasks can be a monster achievement (seriously, we all deserve a medal), but sometimes it can be even harder to keep tabs on those to-dos that only need annual attention. We’ve got you covered. Here’s a checklist of 15 things you should be doing with every trip around the sun.

1. GET PHYSICAL, BUT NOT NECESSARILY A PHYSICAL.

You know your body best, but mounting evidence suggests that, contrary to popular belief, you probably don’t need an annual physical. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t certain health checks you should be doing every time you have to buy a new calendar. In lieu of a check up with your doctor (again, everyone is different and we aren’t talking about children, the elderly, or those with a medical condition), give yourself an annual, self-administered fitness test. You should be breaking a sweat on the regular anyway, but consider instituting a tradition in which you challenge yourself to a set of physical tasks to see how you measure up. There’s an adult version of the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge to get you started, but the specific parameters can be up to you. It’s a good way to see where you’re at in terms of physical health and fitness, and a good motivator if you’re not where you want to be.

2. BUT DO SEE THE DOC FOR OTHER THINGS.

Eye exams, mole checks, and even dentists visits should be done annually (yep, healthy teeth also only need a checkup once a year), and while you’re making the rounds to keep your body in tip top shape, take a look at your health coverage. Medical needs can change from year to year, and there’s usually an annual enrollment period in which you can adjust your plan. Mark that window on the calendar and spend a little time making sure your needs are covered. Your body will thank you.

3. THAT HEALTH CHECK GOES FOR PETS TOO.

We wish our pets could talk to us for all sorts of reasons, but especially when it comes to how they’re feeling. Since we haven’t quite cracked the animal-to-human translation code just yet, it’s important to be proactive about the health of your furry or feathered friend. Take them to the vet at least once a year, and include blood work in the check up. It’s a good way to get ahead of any health issues that might arise, ensure your pet is up to date with any necessary vaccinations, and get valuable insights on how your beloved is doing.

4. SCOPE YOUR CREDIT SCORE.

Being an adult means knowing what’s up with your financial health too, and the best way to do that is to know your credit score. It’s hugely important for landing that apartment you want or getting a good rate on a loan, two of the big things you need to do in the game of life. It’s also free to check annually, so no excuses (and contrary to popular belief, these kinds of “soft inquiries” do not negatively influence your credit score). Basically, a good handle on your credit is a good way to keep money in your pocket. While you’re at it, consider an annual sit down with a financial advisor as well to review your money, your plans, and any changes in the market that may have occurred over the course of the year.

5. DRAIN YOUR HOT WATER HEATER.

The next few annual check ups are related to the home. If your household has one or two people in it, your hot water heater needs to be checked every six months and drained at least every 12 months. Draining it will help it last longer by eliminating any minerals or debris that have built up and could cause the unit to break down. It’s a job you can do yourself with a little time and a hose, so pick a Saturday, read the instructions, and hop to it.

6. CLEAN YOUR CARPET.

No matter how clean you are, there are certain items you just can’t deal with on a regular basis (and often don’t need to). That said, once a year you should roll up your sleeves and tackle carpets, rugs, and upholstery. This isn’t just a run of the vacuum, but a deeper purge with steamers, a soapy bucket, a rented machine, or professionals. Other yearly cleanups include emptying the gutters and cleaning the fireplace and chimney. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

7. GET INSPECTED.

To keep the well-oiled machines in your life running, you have to keep them, well, oiled! Or you know, whatever the particular efficiency-booster might be. And to do that, you often need the help of professionals. Once a year, bring them in to check out your air conditioning units, furnace, roof, gas appliances, and pipes. Termite inspections should happen on the regular, too—that’s an enemy you want to get a jump on.

8. MIND THE GAP.

Time, use, and the elements cause wear and tear on outdoor spaces that can damage their integrity in no time. When it comes to decks or outdoor woodwork, reseal once a year to keep the raw materials protected. They’ll function better and look how they’re supposed to, plus resealing extends their lifetime every time you do it. Same goes for driveway pavement, especially in snowy climates. Whether you have concrete or asphalt, take care of your cracks every 12 months to lengthen the life of your surface.

9. REPLACE THE BATTERIES IN YOUR SMOKE DETECTOR.

We’ve all had that moment when a piece of toast starts burning, the smoke alarm goes off, and we want to rip the thing out of the ceiling—but those loud beeps are exactly what you want to be hearing from your smoke detector. To make sure yours are always in top form, test them monthly and replace alkaline batteries every year. It’s an easy bit of maintenance to ensure the safety of you and yours in the event of a fire.

10. TAKE SPRING CLEANING SERIOUSLY.

It doesn’t have to be spring (though the built-in reminder is kind of nice), but you should take some time out every year to go through your many beloved belongings and decide what isn’t so treasured anymore. The best place to start is your closet: Take a good hard look at your wardrobe and figure out what you love, and want to leave behind. Everything that’s still in good condition can be donated or sold, and the rest can go in the garbage can. It’s also worth going through books and other collections that can get out of hand right under our noses.

11. SPRING CLEAN YOUR E-LIFE, TOO.

The more we live and work on our computers, they more cluttered they become. When you’re done cleaning out those closets, take a load off and direct those cleansing efforts toward your music collection, documents, and other bits of electronic waste that have accumulated over the course of a year. You probably do this regularly too, but the spring cleaning attitude also applies to social networks where connections and follows should be regularly evaluated. Just because it’s the internet, doesn’t mean it doesn’t require some timely decluttering. While you’re at it, annually take a peek at the security and permissions settings on your accounts too, because let’s be honest, you might need to change your relationship status with them from time to time as well.

12. TRASH YOUR BEAUTY STASH.

Not all of it, but it’s a good idea to keep an eye on beauty products and stay diligent when it comes to refreshing the supply—this stuff is going on your body, after all, often in highly sensitive areas. In particular, nail polish, sunscreen, hair products, lipsticks and liners, eyeliner, brow pencils, face creams, foundation, cream eyeshadows and blushes, cleansers, and other like items should not sit on your shelf for more than a year. Many of these you’ll be using with enough frequency that they won’t last long anyway, but pay attention to those items that might accidentally stick around longer than they should.

13. GET YOUR WHEELS CHECKED.

The schedule for car maintenance is almost entirely individual to the driver because it’s based more on mileage than time, but assuming you’re an average driver and your car isn’t drifting where it shouldn’t be, you should get your wheel alignment checked about once a year (if you drive a lot or have a habit of hitting potholes, you might need to get them realigned more frequently). Having properly oriented wheels makes for a huge difference in how your car rides and performs. Not only that, it’s better for the hardware, which will save you money and time as the car ages. Plus we know you love visiting your mechanic.

14. REASSESS YOUR RETIREMENT PLAN.

You’re saving for retirement, which is great, and should feel like an accomplishment in and of itself, but it’s really an ongoing process that requires regular check ups if you want to party hard when you’re an octogenarian. Check up on your retirement plan at least once a year to figure out how things are going, whether you can or should be contributing more, and make considerations about whether you want to tweak your savings plan and/or investments. Many retirement plans are set up to run and adjust to the market without your constant supervision, and while all that’s great, it’s always a good idea to make sure your nest egg is incubating as efficiently as it should be.

15. DO YOUR TAXES.

OK, OK, you knew that already. But there’s something you might not be doing when you’re settling up with Uncle Sam, and that’s keeping tabs on how much you’re withholding. Many have too much or too little withheld, resulting in unexpected bills or refunds come April 15. Ideally, you want it to be just the right amount, and luckily it’s pretty easy to take a quick evaluation at IRS.gov (the amount is based on what you earn and the allowances you claim on your W-4 Form—something you filled out when you were hired). An annual appraisal will help make tax time a little less daunting, and that’s something worth scheduling.

This article was originally published on December 21, 2015.

December 21, 2016 – 12:15pm

December 21, 2016

The Holly Jolly History of the Santa Suit

Maureen Monahan

filed under: fashion, History, holidays

Image credit:

iStock

When you think of Santa, exactly one outfit comes to mind: boots, a red suit with white trim, and a matching stocking cap. The icon didn’t always dress this way, though. Over time—hundreds of years, in fact—the expanding mythology of Old Saint Nick crystallized the sartorial staples of Christmas lore. In the very beginning, he was simply a robe-wearing holy man.

THE ORIGIN OF OLD SAINT NICK

Santa Claus’s pious ancestor was St. Nicholas—a 4th century Greek bishop-turned-saint from an area that is now Turkey, whose generous feats included leaving coins in the shoes and stockings of children (sounds familiar) and paying the dowries of three poor women, so that they might avoid a life of prostitution (less familiar). In fact, St. Nicholas is believed to be one of the people recognized as a saint before the official canonization process was established in the late 10th century. Fittingly, early portrayals show him clad in traditional bishop’s robes.

Long after his death on December 6, 343 CE—the anniversary of which became known as St. Nicholas Day—St. Nicholas remained a popular figure in Europe until the Protestant Reformation, where the observance of saints was condemned. Despite this, the tradition largely endured throughout Europe, with the exception of some staunchly Protestant areas, which began to replace St. Nicholas with their own yuletide patriarchs, like England’s Father Christmas (who was often portrayed as a kindly old man in fur robes), among others. The idea of Santa Claus, let alone his suit, wouldn’t be formed for a couple hundred more years.

BRINGING SANTA TO THE STATES

As detailed in Bruce David Forbes’s Christmas: A Candid History, it was a man named John Pintard who led the major push toward the recognition of St. Nicholas in American popular culture. Pintard was a merchant and philanthropist, whose civic cred includes being a key figure behind both New York’s first savings bank and the American Bible Society. He was elected the first secretary of the New York Historical Society in 1805, and keeping in mind the city’s Dutch heritage, he and the Society established an annual Saint Nicholas Day Dinner, the first of which took place on December 6, 1810. Pintard tasked artist Alexander Anderson with drawing a picture of the saint to be distributed at the event. In the resulting work, St. Nicholas is portrayed as traditionally saintly—barefoot and clad in long bishop’s robes. While the outfit would never make it to the secular mainstream, you can spot the familiar title “Sancte Claus” in the Dutch captions below the image, a clear predecessor to today’s “Santa Claus.”

Around the same time as Pintard’s initiative, a (perhaps unlikely) figure from American literary history would step in to popularize Saint Nick: Washington Irving. On Saint Nicholas Day in 1809, the author published A History of New York: a satirical account of the city’s founding that heightened and caricatured the city’s Dutch roots. Written under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker (which would later give birth to the New Yorker nickname “Knickerbocker,” as in the New York Knicks), A History detailed New Amsterdam’s founders arriving on a ship bearing a figurehead of Saint Nicholas on its bow, describing it “a goodly image of St. Nicholas, equipped with a low, broad-brimmed hat, a huge pair of Flemish trunk-hose, and a pipe that reached to the end of the bowsprit.” While this look was still a long way off from the modern Santa suit, A History of New York did contribute to modern Santa lore, with its St. Nicholas Day depiction of a gift-filled carriage helmed by a jolly, ‘winking’ St. Nick, a portrayal that would later find its way into a much more famous holiday tale.

The tale in question? “A Visit From St. Nicholas”—sometimes known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas”—by Clement Clarke Moore (or Henry Livingston, Jr.). First published anonymously in 1823, the popular poem solidified a few major aspects of Santa lore (outfit included) at a time when the legend of St. Nick still varied widely. With lines that describe St. Nick as “dressed in all fur, from his head to his foot,” whose “cheeks were like roses” and with a “nose like a cherry,” not to mention his beard “as white as the snow,” the poem offered a clear visualization of Santa, right down to his physique: “He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf.” Not everything stuck, though. Throughout the poem, St. Nick is characterized as a pint-sized elf with a “miniature sleigh” and “tiny reindeer,” an image that might have been pushed aside by the next great depiction of Santa, which would come a couple decades later in 1863, from “The Father of the American Cartoon,” Thomas Nast.

THE ‘JOLLY OLD ELF’ TAKES FORM

Thomas Nast may have been known for his political cartoons, like his depictions of Boss Tweed, but he’s also partially responsible for what we recognize today as the Santa suit. From 1863 to 1886, Nast regularly contributed drawings of Santa Claus to Harper’s Weekly, heavily influenced by “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” as well as his German heritage. The American image of Santa was now definitively fat and usually short, though not necessarily “miniature.” The tall, spindly “Father Christmas” figure popular in European depictions gave way to the jolly fellow described in Moore’s poem. Along with his signature belly, Nast’s Santa sported a bushy white beard, boots, and a belted fur ‘suit’ (which looks kind of like long underwear) and cap.

Nast’s contributions to Kris Kringle lore didn’t stop at his outfit, either—they also popularized the notion of Santa’s “naughty or nice” lists. The drawings show the influence of Nast’s Bavarian childhood in their similarities to Pelznickel, the “stern German gift-bringer” who, clad in all furs, carried gifts for good children and threatened naughty children with switches. The Pelznickel influence may be why some of Nast’s Santas wear a suit that looks more like deerskins than the luxurious red and white we now associate with St. Nick. (Interestingly, Pelznickel was first popularized in post-Protestant Reformation Germany as a secular alternative to St. Nicholas after the honoring of saints had been condemned.) In 1890, Nast published a collection of his Santa drawings entitled Thomas Nast’s Christmas Drawings for the Human Race. Though his style of cartooning was starting to be considered outdated at the time, the anthology featured one of the most popular and enduring images of Santa: that of this jolly bearded gentleman, clad in red, holding a pipe and an armful of toys. To this day, Nast’s German hometown of Landau honors their native son’s contributions to Santa lore with their annual Christmas market, the Thomas-Nast-Nikolausmarkt.

Through the turn of the century, the Santa suit continued to evolve. L. Frank Baum’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus provided an elaborate backstory and daring adventures for its hero, but a red suit still wasn’t the norm, as shown on the book’s first edition cover, published in 1902. One of the first times Santa is featured wearing the iconic red coat is on the cover of Puck magazine, widely regarded as America’s first successful humor magazine. In the 1901 image, Santa offers toys to a little boy and girl, who reject the gifts in favor of the works of Montaigne and Tolstoy; in 1902, a rather saucy cartoon shows Santa climbing in through the bedroom window of two Victorian ladies, each planting a kiss on his cheek. Both covers prominently feature St. Nick in a white-trimmed red suit and hat, carbon copies of the iconic Santa suit we recognize today.

The Santa suit wasn’t done changing, though; it would be again modernized and re-popularized, as portrayals became less cartoonish and more human. Norman Rockwell’s portrayal of Santa first appeared on a 1913 cover of Boys’ Life magazine, and soon evolved into a much more naturalistic Santa, who could, for instance, doze off in a simple white shirt and apron. As these depictions made their way into culture consciousness, the red Santa Suit as we know it began to cement its status.

COLA-COLA CHRISTMAS (AND SANTA AS WE KNOW HIM)

Full ubiquity would come with now-iconic Coca-Cola advertisements. While many credit Coke with inventing the Santa we know today, you now know that they were only a piece in the larger puzzle. After a brief appearance in Coke ads in the 1920s, artist Fred Mizen drew Santa enjoying a Coke at a busy soda fountain for an ad that ran in 1930 when the company was looking to up its cold-weather sales. Following the ad’s success, Coca-Cola looked to stake a further claim as Santa’s beverage of choice. According to a history section on Coke’s website, “Archie Lee, the D’Arcy Advertising Agency executive working with The Coca-Cola Company, wanted the campaign to show a wholesome Santa who was both realistic and symbolic [. . .] showing Santa himself, not a man dressed as Santa.” The following Christmas, Coke debuted Haddon Sundblom’s Santa, which featured the same jolly, white-bearded man in the red suit. This time though, Santa looked even more human, with ruddy cheeks and wrinkles marking his animated face. Most importantly, due to Coca-Cola’s enormous advertising presence, Sundblom’s image reached far and wide, thereby solidifying Santa’s specific look into the imaginations of millions.

Decades later, a world of Santa impersonators has a whole costume industry doesn’t just offer a unified vision of Kris Kringle, but a luxe one, too. Most professional Santas own multiple suits ranging in price from $500 to $5,000, and the commitment doesn’t stop there. Some companies, like The Noerr Programs Corporation, specialize in delivering the whole Santa experience: the company’s headquarters, christened The Noerr Pole, provides potential Santas with intricate, theatrical-quality costuming as well as specific training. (They require that Santas be “naturally bearded gentlemen” to ensure each one is prepared to Create Holiday Magic!® Yes, they trademarked that.) We’ve come a long way since the Salvation Army started sending out volunteers in Santa suits in the late 1800s.

For amateurs wishing to try the Santa suit on for size, there’s always SantaCon. In the official guidelines, it’s stated: “A Santa hat alone is not enough. You don’t have to dress exactly like Santa but the theme is red.” Sorry, Pelznickel.

December 21, 2016 – 12:00pm

December 19, 2016

50 Vintage Christmas Cards From the New York Public Library Archives

filed under: History, holidays, libraries

The very first Christmas cards were designed by Englishman John Callcott Horsley in 1843 at the behest of his friend, Sir Henry Cole. The seasonal mailers depicted a family sitting together at a table, with two images of them doing good deeds on either side. Of the 1000 that were printed, only a dozen have survived to this day. We’ve come a long way since then, and while cards with bells, whistles, tinsel, audio, and lights certainly have their place, it’s also nice to look back at what came before.

In that spirit, here are 50 delightfully retro cards from the New York Public Library’s digital archives. Believe it or not, they have many, many more, which you should check out here. We promise it will make your season bright.

1. “WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS”

2. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

3. “A MERRY XMAS, WHERE IGNORANCE IS BLISS”

4. “JUST A LITTLE OUTWARD SIGN”

5. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS.”

6. “MERRY CHRISTMAS.”

7. “I DON’T FORGET YOUR CHRISTMAS…”

8. “WISHING YOU A MERRY XMAS”

9. “A MERRY XMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR”

10. “A MERRY X’MAS”

11. “TO WISH YOU A RIGHT MERRY CHRISTMAS.”

12. “A HEARTY WISH FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR”

13. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR”

14. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

15. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS; THINE OWN WISH WISH I THEE”

16. “MAY JOY ABIDE WITH YOU THIS CHRISTMAS TIDE”

17. “MAY CHRISTMAS BE HAPPY”

18. “I AM THINKING OF YOU TODAY BECAUSE IT IS CHRISTMAS.”

19. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

20. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

21. “MAY ALL THE HOURS OF CHRISTMAS, AND OF THE NEW YEAR TOO …”

22. “WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

23. “MAY YOU HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

24. “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

25. “MAY SANTA MAKE YOUR STOCKING HEAVY AND YOUR HEART LIGHT”

26. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

27. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

28. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

29. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

30. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

31. “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

32. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS [TO YOU ALL]”

33. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

34. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

35. “BEST WISHES FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

36. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

37. “MAY YE BE JUST AS HAPPY YOURSEL’ AS YE LIKE TO SEE ANY BODY ELSE”

38. “YOU’LL GET A LOT OF CARDS I KNOW …”

39. “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

40. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

41. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

42. “AT THE CANDLE LIGHT, AS I LIGHT MY PIPE. ALL IS BRIGHT, ON THIS CHRISTMAS NIGHT.”

43. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU”

44. “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

45. “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

46. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

47. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

48. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

49. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

50. “A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

December 19, 2016 – 6:00am

December 19, 2016

How 50 Texas Cities Got Their Names

filed under: cities

1. HOUSTON

The state’s largest city takes its name from Sam Houston, who led the army that defeated Mexican troops during the Texas Revolution in 1836. That year, the Allen brothers decided to establish a town on the site of a beautiful bayou and name it after him.

2. SAN ANTONIO

In 1691, a group of Spanish settlers—including Domingo Terán de los Ríos, the first governor of Spanish Texas—entered the territory to establish missions and regain control of the area from the French, Apache, and Comanche. On June 13, 1691, the party camped next to a stream. It happened to be the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, and so they renamed the river San Antonio, which later lent its name to the city.

3. DALLAS

Likely the surname of a historic figure, the precise origin of Dallas’s name is unknown. It could come from George Mifflin Dallas, vice president of the United States under James K. Polk, or his brother, Commodore Alexander J. Dallas of the United States Navy, or Joseph Dallas, who settled near the new town in 1843.

4. AUSTIN

Austin’s namesake is Stephen F. Austin, the “founder of Anglo-American Texas.” The city was established as the capital in 1839, when the Republic of Texas was just three years old.

5. FORT WORTH

General William Jenkins Worth was a military hero in the Mexican War who was serving as the Commander of the Department of Texas when he died of cholera in May 1849, about a month before Major Ripley Arnold established the fort.

6. EL PASO

Paso comes from “El Paso del Norte,” or “Pass of the North.” Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate gave the location that name in 1598 because it sits in the pass between two mountain ranges, the Sierra de Juárez and the Franklin Mountains.

7. ARLINGTON

Founded in 1876, Arlington was renamed in 1877 after Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House in Arlington, Virginia.

8. CORPUS CHRISTI

Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda is responsible for naming this southern Texas city. The name, which means “body of Christ,” comes from the Catholic feast day on which he explored and claimed the area in 1519.

9. LAREDO

A Spanish military officer named José de Escandón was commissioned to settle the area and named it Laredo, after a town in the Santander province of Spain.

10. LUBBOCK

Thomas Saltus Lubbock was a soldier in the Texas Revolution and served as a Texas Ranger in support of the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was also the brother of the ninth governor of Texas, Francis R. Lubbock, who served from 1857 to 1859.

11. GARLAND

Former Arkansas governor and U.S. senator Augustus H. Garland was the sitting attorney general when the city was established in 1887. He served under President Grover Cleveland.

12. IRVING

The city of Irving is most likely named for a Yankee—Washington Irving. Irving was the favorite author of Onetta Barcus Brown, the wife of the town’s co-founder, Otis Brown.

13. AMARILLO

The Spanish word for “yellow” suits this city well thanks to the yellow wildflowers and yellow soil along the banks of the creek of the same name. Charles F. Rudolph, editor of the Tascosa Pioneer, shamed the Forth Worth and Denver Railway employees for their incorrect pronunciation for the Spanish word. In 1888, he correctly predicted the future when he said, “Never again will it be Ah-mah-ree-yoh.”

14. GRAND PRAIRIE

This name reflects the land on which the city was built—glorious, expansive grasslands. It was originally called Dechman after its founder, but the town’s name was later changed to match that of the local railroad station.

15. BROWNSVILLE

Major Jacob Brown was a soldier in the Mexican-American War. He served as commander of Fort Texas, where died during a Mexican attack, and posthumously gave this city its name.

16. PASADENA

It’s no coincidence that Pasadena, Texas shares a name with a town in California. Founder John H. Burnett wanted to depict his area as lush with vegetation and fertile for agriculture, just like the SoCal region.

17. McKINNEY

Collin McKinney was among the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He also served as a land surveyor, legislator, and religious leader.

18. MESQUITE

A nearby creek of the same name was dubbed before the city was founded in 1873, presumably after the mesquite trees native to the area.

19. KILLEEN

Settled in 1872, Killeen was established by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, which named the settlement for Frank P. Killeen, assistant general manager of the railroad. Before taking on Killeen’s name, the area was called Palo Alto.

20. FRISCO

Rainchill, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 3.0

Originally named Emerson, the city was renamed in 1904 for the St. Louis, San Francisco & Texas Railway, referred to as the “Frisco system,” which ran through the area.

21. McALLEN

John McAllen was an early settler in the area who joined with his son, James McAllen, to donate land for the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway to cross in order to establish a town along the rail line.

22. WACO

Aaron Jacobs, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.5

Waco is named for the Waco tribe, whose village once rested on the land that now bears its name.

23. CARROLLTON

The name most likely comes from Carrollton, Illinois, the previous hometown of many of the city’s early residents. It is also possible that the name comes from Daniel Joseph Carroll, a settler from the 1841 William S. Peters colony.

24. MIDLAND

Midland began in 1881 as Midway Station, a section house located halfway between two stations on the Texas and Pacific Railway. Because Texas already had towns called Midway, the name was changed in 1884—as many do—to facilitate establishing a post office.

25. DENTON

John B. Denton was a lawyer, Methodist minister, and captain in the Republic of Texas army. The city was founded in 1857.

26. ABILENE

When the town was founded in 1881, C.W. Merchant took the name from Abilene, Kans. in the hope that its Texas counterpart could become as important as its sister in the cattle ranching business.

27. BEAUMONT

Henry Millard and his partners purchased fifty acres to establish a town in 1835. The Beaumont moniker likely came from Millard’s wife’s maiden name.

28. ODESSA

Larry D. Moore, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Russian railroad workers likely named this city for its resemblance to the landscape of Odessa, Ukraine.

29. ROUND ROCK

Two fishing buddies and early residents found inspiration in the large limestone rock in Brushy Creek where the pair liked to drop their lines.

30. THE WOODLANDS

While not technically an incorporated city (it’s a census designated place), The Woodlands boasts a robust population (around 108,000) that earns it a spot on this list. George P. Mitchell founded the planned community in 1974, and the name was likely picked as a way to market the development as a pastoral, nature-filled alternative to nearby Houston.

31. WICHITA FALLS

Billy Hathorn, Wikimedia Commons // CC0

Wichita County and the Wichita River both existed before the city and were named for the local Wichita tribe, though that word wasn’t the tribe’s name for themselves, but rather a Choctaw word meaning “big arbor,” a reference to their thatched huts. The “falls” was a five-foot-high waterfall that washed away in the late 1800s.

32. RICHARDSON

A couple of Richardsons could have given their name to this city. The name most likely comes from E. H. Richardson, a contractor who built the Houston and Texas Central Railroad from Dallas to Denton, but it could also be a reference to A. S. Richardson, a secretary for the railroad. The town of Richardson was intentionally founded on the railroad tracks, which makes both sensible candidates.

33. LEWISVILLE

Brandon Cooper, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

Lewisville was once known as Holford Prairie after its previous owners, but in the 1850s, B.W. Lewis bought the land and renamed it after himself.

34. TYLER

The city was named for President John Tyler as a show of gratitude for his supporting Texas’s admission to the union.

35. PEARLAND

The city was aptly named for the abundance of pear trees in the area, with the moniker also helping attract settlers by advertising the fertile land. The area was originally called Mark Belt, so a change of any kind of was probably a good idea.

36. COLLEGE STATION

Aggie0083, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

You need only know that College Station is home to Texas A&M to understand this name. The city began as a railroad stop for the university.

37. SAN ANGELO

The town’s founder, Bart J. DeWitt, decided on the name Santa Angela to honor either his deceased wife, Caroline Angela, or his sister-in-law, Angelina, who was a nun. By the time the town applied for a post office in 1883, the name had transformed into San Angela, which is grammatically nonsensical in Spanish. The postal service rejected that construction but approved the grammatically consistent San Angelo.

38. ALLEN

Ebenezer Allen, a native of Maine who moved to Texas in the 1830s, served as attorney general and secretary of state of the Republic of Texas and was later a promoter for the Houston and Texas Central Railway. In 1880, Denton outlaw Sam Bass committed what is said to be Texas’s first train robbery in Allen.

39. LEAGUE CITY

When John C. League acquired the land that is now League City in 1893, it was called Butler’s Ranch. League bought the land from a man named Muldoon who gave up the property rights upon entering the priesthood.

40. SUGAR LAND

Ed Schipul, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.5

Sugar Land was once home to a large sugarcane plantation, a raw-sugar mill, and a sugar refinery, as well as the Sugar Land Railroad. In other words, the name was as sure as sugar.

41. LONGVIEW

The impressive views of the area surrounding the town inspired this name. The view from the house of Ossamus Hitch Methvin, from whom the land was purchased in order to extend the Southern Pacific Railroad track, was particularly breathtaking.

42. MISSION

Mission was founded on 17,000 acres of land purchased from priests of the French Catholic order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who maintained the nearby La Lomita Mission. Founders John J. Conway and James W. Holt took a cue from the former owners when naming the city in 1907.

43. EDINBURG

Only an “h” separates this city and the Scottish one for which it was named. The name is an homage to John Young, a 19th century landowner of the Rio Grande Valley who was born in Edinburgh.

44. BRYAN

William Joel Bryan donated the land for the townsite, enabling the expansion of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. He was also a nephew of Stephen F. Austin.

45. BAYTOWN

The city grew up around a refinery that was built in 1919 in order to process oil from the Goose Creek Oil Field, which sits on Tabbs Bay.

46. PHARR

Henry N. Pharr was a Louisiana sugarcane grower who purchased the land that would become the town in 1909 along with John C. Kelly, who generously named the town for his partner.

47. TEMPLE