Word-Wednesday for December 24, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for December 24, 2025, the twenty-eighth Wednesday of the year, the first Wednesday of winter, the fourth Wednesday of December, and the three-hundred fifty-eighth day of the year, with seven days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for December 24, 2025
Waabinangozhii
Also known as the "snowflake" bird, due to the appearance of flocks in flight against a winter sky, the Snow bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, is once again a common sight as they gather around Wannaskan roadsides, waiting to take flight just before your car reaches their roosting position. Song plays an important role in species propagation. Snow buntings use vocalizations to communicate among each other and males will have a song to attract the female. The communication calls are done by both the male and the female - sung in flight or in the ground. The males will start singing as soon as they will reach the breeding grounds, and will stop once they find a mate. The quality and the rate at which a song is emitted affect the reproductive success of a male. The rate of a song measured by the number of strophes  [/ˈstrōfē/ n., a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of varying line-length, especially an ode or free verse pram] per minute is limited by the foraging needs of the male. A male able to sing more frequently shows that he is more successful and effective in his foraging behavior. The song presumably becomes an indicator of the parental care qualities of the male, since having an effective foraging behavior will provide a better probability of survival of the nestlings. Females will then choose their mates based on their song rate.

December 24 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


December 24 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for December 24, 2025
Sunrise: 8:16am; Sunset: 4:31pm; 18 seconds more daylight today.
Moonrise: 11:11am; Moonset: 9:25pm, waxing crescent, 21% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for December 24, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             14                     43                     20
Low             - 5                   -38                      8

Nostrils Run
by Steven Reynolds

I sniff snot so it duznt drip 
onta my uppa-uppa lip
no’ make itz way
down you see, inta my lowa extremity
Bot’ me eyes wadder
Oh, dere a bodder,
dey dry in a welwo-wish crust
as dey must
for dey mat my eye lashsus
an’ scrinchz my lids closed
den I sneeze wit’ a vengenze
an’ cover me nose,
wit’ a Puffs anti-snot papah
an’ a anti-germ wipe
an’ ‘ear “Wash-your-hands now dear” (a snipe from da wife)
She means well, she duz
she treats me weal sweet
She letz me wewax
an’ fall back to sleep
I can faht if I wanna
out ‘ere in me chair
she’s in ‘er bed yonda
safe from my air
So Merry Almost-Christmas
dis twenty-fourth of December
for dis poem ‘ere, Joseph
izz wun to rememba

December 24 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Eggnog Day
• Quviasukvik, the Inuit new year

December 24 Word Pun

December 24 Word Riddle
How is A through M similar to N through Z?*

A Chairman Joe original

December 24 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
CHRISTMAS, n. A day set apart and consecrated to gluttony, drunkenness, maudlin sentiment, gift-taking, public dulness and domestic misbehavior.

    What! not religious? You should see, my pet,
    On every Christmas day how drunk I get!
    O, I'm a Christian—not a pious monk
    Honors the Master with so dead a drunk.


December 24 Etymology Word of the Week
yule
/yo͞ol/ n., a winter festival that can refer to the celebration of the winter solstice or to the Christmas season, from an Old Norse word jol, one of the names given to a twelve-day festival celebrated by the Scandinavian and Teutonic peoples of Northern Europe, from "the Christmas season," Middle English Yol, from Old English geol, geola "Christmas Day, Christmastide," which is cognate with Old Norse jol (plural), the name of a heathen feast, later absorbed into Christianity. The Germanic word is of unknown origin. The Old English (Anglian) cognate giuli was the name for a two-month midwinter season corresponding to Roman December and January, a time of important feasts but not itself a festival. In Christian England the word narrowed to mean "the 12-day feast of the Nativity" (which began Dec. 25). But by the 11th century it was replaced by Christmas, except in the northeast (areas of Danish settlement), where yule remained the usual word. Yule returned to literary use among 19th century writers with a sense of "the Christmas of 'Merrie England'". Yule log and yule block both are from mid-17th century. According to some sources, Old Norse jol was borrowed into Old French as jolif, hence Modern French joli "pretty, nice," originally "festive" (see jolly).


December 24 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 563 Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.
• 1815 Karol Kurpiński's melodramatic opera The Reward, or the Revival of the Polish Kingdom premieres.
• 1818 Christmas carol Silent Night composed by Franz Xaver Gruber is first sung at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, Austria.
• 1853 William Henry Fry's Santa Claus: Christmas Symphony premieres.
• 1871 Giusseppi Verdi's Aida opera premieres.
• 1898 Herman Heijermans' Ghetto premieres.
• 1930 F. García Lorca's La zapatera prodigiosa premieres.
• 1943 Terence Rattigan's comedy play While the Sun Shines premieres.
• 1948 First US completely solar heated house is occupied in Dover, Massachusetts.

December 24 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1475 Thomas Murner, German writer.
• 1564 Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch painter, cartoonist, printmaker, and engraver.
• 1609 Philip Warwick, English writer.
• 1653 Georg Motz, German composer.
• 1679 Domenico Natale Sarro, Italian composer.
• 1689 Frans van Mieris the Younger, Dutch painter.
• 1698 William Warburton, English writer.
• 1714 Rainieri de' Calzabigi, Italian poet.
• 1726 Johann Ernst Hartmann, Danish organist and composer.
• 1754 George Crabbe, English poet.
• 1773 Joseph Wölfl, Austrian pianist and composer.
• 1798 Adam Mickiewicz, Polish national poet.
• 1810 Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator.
• 1812 Henry Russell, English pianist and composer.
• 1822 Matthew Arnold, English poet.
• 1824 Peter Cornelius, German composer.
• 1826 Ignacy Krzyzanowski, Polish composer.
• 1829 Benjamin Ipavec, Slovene Romantic composer.
• 1829 José Rogel, Spanish composer.
• 1842 Nicola d' Arienzo, Italian composer and writer.
• 1843 Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet.
• 1859 Roman Statkowski, Polish composer.
• 1867 Manuel de Oliveira Lima, Brazilian writer.
• 1869 Henriette Roland Holst, Dutch poet.
• 1870 Rosario Scalero, Italian composer.
• 1879 Émile Nelligan, Canadian francophone poet.
• 1879 Stanislav Pylypovych Lyudkevych, Polish composer.
• 1880 Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children's book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann.
• 1881 Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer.
• 1881 Juan Ramon Jiménez, Spanish poet.
• 1906 Václav Tikal, Czech painter.
• 1910 Fritz [Reuter] Leiber Jr., American science fiction author.
• 1913 Karl Michael Komma, German composer.
• 1917 Jiří Brdečka,Czech writer.
• 1918 Carolyn DeZurik, Minnesota country and polka singer and yodeler.
• 1921 Gerard Thomas Victory, Irish composer.
• 1927 Mary Higgins Clark, American suspense novelist.
• 1927 Teresa Stich-Randall, American soprano.
• 1929 Noel DaCosta, Nigerian-Jamaican composer.
• 1930 Julian Barry [Mendelsohn], American playwright.
• 1930 Robert Joffrey [Abdullah Jaffa Anver Bey Khan], American dancer, teacher, and choreographer.
• 1931 Mauricio Kagel, Argentine-German composer.
• 1950 Dana Gioia, American poet.
• 1954 Cynthia Folio, American composer.

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge 
Write a story or pram from the following words:

• aspaldiko: /ahs-PAHL-dee-koh/ n., the joy of catching up with someone you haven seen in a long time; the happiness and warmth of a long-awaited reunion.
• causeuse: /koh-ZUZ/ n., a woman who is a skilled conversationalist; (also) a talkative woman; a loveseat.
• còsagach: /cos-AH-gogh, adj., SCOTTISH, sung, sheltered, and warm
• eunoia: /yoo-NOY-uh/ n., a pure and bell-balanced mind; a good spirit; beautiful thinking.
• gaudete: /gaw-DEE-tee/ exclam., LATIN, rejoice.
• iechyd da: /yekh-ee DAH/ interj., WESLH, used as a toast or salutation before drinking: cheers! good health!
• hogamadog: /HOG-ah-mah-dog/ n., the large ball of snow created by rolling a smaller snowball across soft snow, typically used as the base for a snowman.
• Jólabókaflóð: /yo-la-BOK-a-flot/ n., Icelandic tradition of exchanging books as Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, then spending the night reading them, often with hot chocolate or festive drinks.
• tomte: /TOM-teh/ n., SWEDISH, n., a small, gnome-like household spirit from Scandinavian folklore, depicted as a bearded old man in gray with a red cap, who guards a farm or home and its inhabitants, protecting them from misfortune in exchange for respect and a yearly offering of Christmas porridge with butter.
• werifesteria: /war-ə-fess-TER-ee-uh/ v., to wander longingly through the forest in search of mystery.

December 24, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
Christmas Eve and Christmas
Twenty-three point four four, the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun — a constant tilt that causes our seasons by directing different amounts of sunlight to each hemisphere throughout the year. Having just reached our darkest day, we now celebrate the return to greater and greater light each day — today, a full 18 seconds more than yesterday. For now, Christianity remains the most popular celebration of this season, which will probably remain the case for as long as the AI bubble holds. Until then, we celebrate with the words of famous writers who have penned the following thoughts about what this season means...

Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today’s Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday.

Gladys Taber

Christmas, it seems to me is a necessary festival; we require a season when we can regret all the flaws in our human relationships: it is the feast of failure, sad but consoling.

Graham Greene

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.

Calvin Coolidge

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.

Garrison Keillor

From a personal point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it.

Katharine Whitehorn

’Tis blessed to bestow, and yet,
Could we bestow the gifts we get,
And keep the ones we give away,
How happy were our Christmas Day!

Carolyn Wells

It is good to be children sometimes and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty founder was a child himself.

Charles Dickens

How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, His precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.

Benjamin Franklin

I felt overstuffed and dull and disappointed, the way I always do the day after Christmas, as if whatever it was the pine boughs and the candles and the silver and gilt-ribboned presents and the birch-log fires and the Christmas turkey and the carols at the piano promised never came to pass.

Sylvia Plath

People can’t concentrate properly on blowing other people to pieces if their minds are poisoned by thoughts suitable to the twenty-fifth of December.

Ogden Nash

And now humanity has its most beautiful and most appropriate Christmas gift—Peace.

Christopher Morley

Sometimes the best Christmas present is remembering what you’ve already got.

Cathy Guisewite

Heap on the wood!—the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still. Walter Scott
I have often thought…it happens very well that Christmas should fall in the Middle of winter.

Joseph Addison

The only way the American Christmas could be simplified would be to change the date from December 25 to February 29. Then it would come every four years. I’ve advocated this for a long time but nobody pays attention to me.

E. B. White

Forgive us our Christmases as we
Forgive those who Christmas against us! 

Carolyn Wells

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet/The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I do hope your Christmas has had a little touch of Eternity in among the rush and pitter patter and all. It always seems such a mixing of this world and the next—but that after all is the idea!

Evelyn Underhill

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.

Andy Rooney

Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and stir of affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling—the season for kindling not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Washington Irving

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

Hamilton Wright Mabie

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the past, the present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lesson they teach.

Ebeneezer Scrooge, from Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

From A Year with Rilke, December 24 Entry
For the Sake of One Line of Poetry, from The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

. . . And to think of all these things is still not enough. One must remember many nights of love, of which none was like another. One must remember the cries of women in labor and the pale, distracted sleep of those who have just given birth and begin to close again. But one must also have been with the dying and sat beside the dead in the room with the open window and the fitful sounds of life. And it is still not enough to have memories: one must be able to forget them when they crowd the mind and one must have the immense patience to wait until they come again. For it is not the memories themselves. Only when they become our blood, our glance, our gesture, nameless and indistinguishable from who we are only then can it happen that in a very rare hour the first word of a poem rises from their midst and goes forth.

Old Woman with a Ball of Yarn
by Marc Chagall

Be better than yesterday, 
learn a new word today, 
try to stay out of trouble — at least until tomorrow, 
and write when you have the time.






*Both are halphabets.