Look for an Evergreen Day

Today is Look for an Evergreen Day. You may need not to set out on a quest into the forest primeval in search of an evergreen today. Many urbanites have a Christmas tree lot that sets up somewhere in the neighborhood around this time of year. Actually, by December 19, many of these lots are looking rather sparse because the custom nowadays is to put up the tree around the time dishes are cleared from Thanksgiving dinner.

But it was not ever thus. Especially when trees were lit with real candles, it was vitally important that a real tree be truly green -- freshly cut -- so that the decorations would not set it ablaze.

Today's little holiday lights are far less hot than open flames or even the large bulbs of our childhood memories -- but electrical cords can arc and spark and almost nothing this side of a chemical lab burns with the fury of a dry Christmas tree. For information about keeping your natural Christmas tree safe, consider taking a look at this Holiday and Christmas Tree Safety page on the website of the U.S. Fire Administration.

Today is also National Hard Candy Day. That sounds festive enough, doesn't it? But today is also National Oatmeal Muffin Day. That sounds sort of, um, regular.