Test Your Christmas Smarts!

I've definately been getting more and more in the Christmas spirit lately. We went to "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at the Spokane Civic Theater the other night, I finally got my Advent wreath set up (on the second week of Advent *sigh*) and we spent an evening at The Bing Crosby Theater (I live in Bing's hometown) tapping our feet and whispering the lyrics to "Sisters". Inspired, I dug out my Christmas box and began pulling out decorations, dvds and one of my favorite little finds, a box of Christmas trivia. Aaahhh... I love both Christmas and trivia, so I snatched it up when I saw it in a discount bin one year after Christmas. I also found a great site with some fun tidbits at http://christmas.howstuffworks.com/games/christmas-trivia.htm. Now, I would like to bestow some of the enjoyment on you!

Questions:

1. What are the three different colors used for the candles of an Advent wreath?

2. In Miracle on 34th Street, at what store does Doris Walker work?

3. What did General Washington cross on December 25, 1776?

4. What holiday tradition evolved from a large stewing pot set out in the streets of San Francisco in 1891 to collect money to provide Christmas dinner to 1,000 of the city's poorest residents?

5. What does the 'X' stand for when Christmas is abbreviated to Xmas?

6. What colorful tree decoration did Ralph E. Morris, a telephone company employee, contribute?

7. Name the reindeer whose name begins with a 'B'.

8. What Christmas song was first introduced in the movie, Holiday Inn?

9. In Bulgaria, what object is hidden in the ashes of the yule log: a key, coin, or ring?

10. What was the angel's name in It's a Wonderful Life?

11. In what country did the tradition of sending Christmas cards begin in?

12. Do female reindeer have antlers?

Answers:

1. What are the three different colors... Purple, rose and white

2. In Miracle on 34th Street... Macy's

3. What did General Washington cross... The Delaware

4. What holiday tradition evolved from a large stewing pot... The Salvation Army collection kettle

5. What does the 'X' stand for... The first letter of the word Christ in the Greek language is chi, which is identical to the modern Roman alphabet's X

6. What colorful tree decoration... Electric tree lights

7. Name the reindeer... Blitzen

8. What Christmas song was first introduced... White Christmas

9. In Bulgaria, what object is hidden... A coin

10. What was the angel's name... Clarence

11. In what country did the tradition of sending Christmas cards... England

12. Do female reindeer have antlers... Yes, they are the only species of deer that females grow antlers

How'd you do?

:) Deanna

A Quick Look at 1998 (because it's been 10 years... get it?)

Recently I have been getting emails about my upcoming 10 year high school class reunion. I started thinking about that last year of high school and you know, I just couldn't remember much. To be perfectly honest, my mind was already moving on because I was ready to go to university. Just for the heck of it I decided to take a trip through the 97-98 year. First though, I want to see how much you remember about the years 1997 and 1998...

First, 1997:

What was the first movie to gross more than $1 billion at the box office?

What colony returned to China under a proposed "One country, Two systems" pact?

What comet were Heaven's Gate cultists hoping to hitch a ride on after they died?

Whose 1997 antics inspired the headline: "Lobe Blow for Boxing"

Now, on to 1998:

Who claimed to have wirtten a resume that deadpanned: "Supervised vice president's invention of Internet"?

What film suspended production for a year so the star could let his hair grow and lose 50 pounds?

What Billy Blanks exercise program inspired fitness center knockoffs with names like Cardio Kickboxing?

What nemesis shared Time's "Men of the Year" honors with Bill Clinton?

Did that jog some memories?

I do remember the school year starting out with the death of Princess Diana followed by the death of Mother Theresa within a week. I remember piles of flowers at the palace gates in England with a huge funeral at Westminister Abbey. I also remember simple wrinkled hands laced with the Rosary resting on a white sari.

The Unabomer, Ted Kaczynski, plead guilty and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. I remember my teacher actually calling Newsweek to figure out why "Unabomer" was spelled without the second 'b' on their cover. FYI, turns out "Unabom" was a name assigned to the original case, so the name itself was never actully meant to have the word "bomb" in it.

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Enough said.

The winter olympics were in Nagano, Japan. I think figure skating was practically at its height then, so Tara Lapynski and Michelle Kwan were the stars. I also liked Picabu Street because of her name and that she was from Idaho.

My friends all watched Titanic 1,538 times. I still haven't seen it.


Viagra was approved by the FDA. Canadian men were coming down in droves to get it giving Niagra Falls a new nickname.

Michael Jordan played his last game with the Chicago Bulls. I've never been much of an NBA fan, but that was truly an end to an era.

So, there you go. That helped jog my memory a little and to be perfectly honest, a little is enough. Now, on to making some more memories.

D

By the way, here are the answers to the trivia question above:

Titanic
Hong Kong

Hail-Bopp
Mike Tyson

Bill Clinton
Castaway
Tae Bo
Kenneth Starr