Author: Lisa Mungovan

Sometimes extreme cold gives you a runny nose. Cold-induced rhinitis can cause your nose to drip a cup of fluid a day! When you inhale, your nose has to make the air warm and wet to avoid irritating your lung cells. Secretions create humidity, but sometimes your nose just makes more than necessary.

Today is Pumpkin Pie Day. Try making one from your leftover Halloween pumpkin! Just kidding, those are all rotten! It’s easiest to use pumpkin in a can, to make a fresh-baked pie. It’s also A’phabet , or No “L” Day. The ABC’s minus the L is Noel, another name for Christmas!

Christmas tradition says a star overhead marked the location where Jesus was born. The Bible describes how wise men followed a star to Bethlehem. Some people think the star was really a UFO! They also think Jesus was an alien who could shift shapes. Whatever you believe, Happy Christmas!

A popular Christmas gift for kids years ago used to be a chemistry set. But those sets could be dangerous! They contained poisonous cyanide to dissolve gold, blowtorches to make glass test tubes, radioactive uranium to practice measuring radiation, and carcinogenic asbestos to dust for fingerprints. Now some chemistry sets don’t even contain chemicals!

Today is Christmas, a festival celebrated by billions of people to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. We don’t know the date Jesus was actually born, but Christmas has been December 25th since the year 336. It is marked with gift giving and Santa Claus, Christmas trees and lights, church services, songs and gatherings.

Have you ever gone fishing with a powerful magnet? A man fishing in the River Tame, near Birmingham England, pulled up 19 hand grenades! The grenades were from World War 2. A bomb squad was called in, when he noticed 2 grenades still had their pins in place! The grenades will be destroyed for safety.

In the United States, over a million people have now received their first dose, of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most of the recipients were healthcare workers, who are saving coronavirus patients. We owe them our thanks, for helping so many sick people recover. It will be many months before everyone can get vaccinated.

Under many Christmas trees, you’ll find a Nativity scene, with baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and the 3 Wise Men. But there’s also a Hipster version! Mary and Joseph are taking selfies, there are 3 Delivery Men on Segways bearing packages, the sheep is wearing a sweater, and the cow is 100% organic.

Most of the time NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is in charge of aerospace and maritime warning and control. But on Christmas Eve, NORAD tracks Santa Claus! They use radar, satellites, jet fighter escorts, and Santacams to get some pictures. Visit the noradsanta.org website to follow Santa’s travels around the world today!

Today is Eggnog Day. Also known as egg milk punch (which I think sounds kind of gross), eggnog is a drink made from milk, cream, sugar, spices and eggs. It’s also good in coffee! Sometimes it’s served spiked with liquor, so make sure you ask an adult, before you drink any!