Happy Birthday, December babes! Check out our curated December Gift Guide for thoughtfully curated unique gift ideas.
+ Did you know? | December has marked the end of the year and the coming of winter since the ancient Romans established their first calendar. As its etymology indicates, December is formed from the Latin root decem- which means “ten” … but December is our twelfth month. The strange numbering discrepancy is also present for the months of September, October, and November, which reference “seven,” “eight,” and “nine,” even though they’re our ninth, tenth, and eleventh months.
Why? Well, the ancient Roman calendar only had ten months in the year, beginning with the month of March. January and February were eventually added after December to the end of the year. But, by the time the Julian Calandar was established in 45 BCE, January and February appeared at the beginning of the year, which bumped all of the original months (and their originally assigned names) back by two.
+ December in other languages | دِيسِمْبَر {Arabic}, dezembro {Brazilian Portuguese}, 十二月 {Chinese}, prosinec {Czech}
Notable December Highlights:
- Birthstones:
- Tanzanite
- Zircon
- Turquoise
- Flower:
- Holly
- Narcissus
- Zodiac Signs:
- ♐ Sagittarius {November 22- December 21}
- Traits: Generous, idealistic, sense of humor, loyal, hardworking
- Symbolism: Archer, half human and half horse
- ♑ Capricorn {December 22- January 19}
- Traits: Traditional, down-to-earth, industrious, disciplined
- Symbolism: The Goat
- Holidays:
- Christmas Eve {December 24}
- Christmas Day {December 25}
- New Years Eve {December 31}
- Awareness:
- Learn a Foreign Language Month
- National Cat Lovers' Month
- National Fruitcake Month
- National Tie Month
- Safe Toys and Gifts Awareness Month
- Write a Friend Month
- Hashtag Holidays (these are just a few - scroll to the bottom for a link to find more fun days to celebrate this month):
- December 1: National Cookie Cutter Day
- December 1: National Women Support Women Day
- December 3: Make a Gift Day
- December 4: Candle Day
- December 4: Santa's List Day
- December 5: International Volunteer Day
- December 6: St. Nicholas Day
- December 7: National Joy Day
- December 9: Christmas Card Day
- December 13: National Cocoa Day
- December 21: National Crossword Puzzle Day
- December 22: Mathematics Day
- December 26: National Thank You Note Day
- December 28: Card Playing Day
- Click here for a much more comprehensive list