352 – 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on December 25th.
1651 – Massachusetts General Court ordered a five shilling fine for “observing any such day as Christmas”
1831 – Louisiana & Arkansas are first states to observe Christmas as holiday.
1896 – Stars & Stripes Forever” written by John Phillip Sousa.
1938 – George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O’Hare in “Gone With the Wind”
1939 – Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th red-nose reindeer.
1958 – Alan Freed’s Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular opens.
1959 – Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market.
1962 – “To Kill a Mockingbird”, a film adaptation of the novel by Harper Lee, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck, is released (Gregory Peck – Best Actor Academy Awards 1963)
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to bombing operations in North Vietnam, hoping to spur peace talks.
1968 – Frank Borman’s Christmas reading while orbiting the Moon.
1973 – Arab oil ministers cancel January 5 percent production cut; Saudi Arabian oil minister promises 10 percent OPEC production rise.
1983 – 1st live telecast of Christmas Parade at the EPCOT Centre, Disney World, Florida.
1995 – Dallas Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith makes a NFL record of 25 touchdowns in a season against the Arizona Cardinals.
1997 – Fort 1st time US movie box office receipts pass $6 billion.
1997 – Jerry Seinfeld announces the final season of his TV show “Seinfeld” will air the following year.
2008 – Phil Jackson becomes the sixth coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games.
2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
2013 – “The Wolf on Wall Street”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Johan Hill, is released.