On the Fourth Day of Christmas....

Oh, sure, the stores in the mall took down all the trees and tinsel and started putting up their spring and summer displays as soon as the doors closed on Christmas Eve, but we are still, technically, in the 12 Days of Christmas.

Remember when we used to wish that the 'Christmas spirit' would last throughout the year? Now we can't even get it to last throughout Christmastime.

Many of the Usual Suspects also proclaim today Pledge of Allegiance Day, but the Pledge has been modified here and there, in this way and that way, since it was first composed in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. (The addition of the words "under God" in 1954 were not the only change. Just to cite one example, Bellamy's original salute to the flag had to be abandoned in World War II because it looked too much like the Nazi salute.) The linked Wikipedia article doesn't suggest any particularly prominent event in the history of the Pledge that would tie in with today's date. Our crack research staff has found other online references to Congress taking some action to adopt the Pledge on this date in 1945, but has so far been unable to confirm this. Indeed, the linked article suggests that Congress had recognized the Pledge at least since June 1942.

Several of the usual suspects also consider today Card Playing Day. We don't know why today may have been singled out for this purpose either.

We also don't know why today may have been designated National Chocolate Candy Day. In this case, however, we don't care. We will celebrate anyway.