Today’s Topics: “Don’t let what you have stand in the way of what you need.” | Cisco Catalyst 3750-X Switch Deal | Sanitizer Dispensers | Lesser-Known Christmas Trivia | News to Start Your Day
Happy Wednesday!
December 9th is Christmas Card Day, National Llama Day, and World Techno Day, so get your Christmas cards ready to mail while sitting with your llama, while listening to techno music.
Hey there, friends. Hope you’re having a great week so far. I’ve been attempting to devote some time to reflection as the end of the year draws near. Today I was reminded of a phrase Craig uses occasionally to incite action: “Don’t let what you have stand in the way of what you need.”
I was chatting with a friend about some changes happening in her life. She and her husband want to move out of their neighborhood onto land and build a house. She is a successful small business owner, and she’s closing her business. Why would a successful business owner close her business? What she has is standing in the way of what she wants. While her business is successful, she has been stuck in a rut for several years. It isn’t interesting to her anymore. Moving out of her home will mean downsizing, which will require emotional and physical resources. Planning and building a new home will also take much of her time. She and her husband have had this dream of a smaller house with more land for many years. As we talked more about what was coming up for them, I was more and more excited for her. I believe the choices they are making for their family will be a creative reset for her, and I am excited that her family will be going after their dreams together. Big changes require courageous choices.
This year has been tough in many ways. Lots of unknowns, hard choices, and wildly different points of view about how to handle it all has stretched us. But in the midst of all the hard stuff, there has been something beautiful happening too, a reset of sorts. Families at home together more, less things to-do each day and more intentional choices about what makes it on the list for tomorrow or next week, a surge of creativity as people have to figure out how to live and work differently, and a strengthening of communities that comes from going through trying times together. I believe many of the consequences of the “new reality” we’re living in are positive ones, things people have longed for but were afraid to go after. What we had before wasn’t negative enough to make us change our ways. I encourage you to take some time to reflect. Let’s use the things we’ve learned from this year to remind us to be bold and courageous, to live purposeful lives. Don’t let what you have stand in the way of what you need.
Christin
Product Spotlights & Updates from Rebecca:
Happy Wednesday! For day 2 of the 12 Deals of Christmas, we are featuring a super popular switch, the Cisco Catalyst WS-C3750X-48PF-S! This Cisco Catalyst 3750-X switch is an enterprise-level, stackable, managed switch that offers 48 Gigabit Ethernet PoE+ ports with 30W of power on all ports! It also features Cisco EnergyWise technology as well as stacking capabilities with Cisco StackPower and StackWise Plus technology! We currently have this switch on sale for $250… that’s 21% off the regular price!!
Don’t forget that we have a wide variety of hand sanitizer dispensers! We offer everything from Desktop Dispensers to Wall Mount Dispensers and even Floor Stand Dispensers!! These devices are perfect for keeping on your desk, in your home, or your business! Browse through our models to find the one that is right for your needs!
Lesser-Known Christmas Trivia
“Silent Night” was first sung as part of a church service in Austria. A guitar was used because the church organ was so badly rusted it couldn’t be played.
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The original Christmas pudding is a soup composed of raisins and wine.
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In Germany and some other western European countries, St. Nicholas, or Nikolaus comes on the night from the 5th to the 6th of December, where children have their boots all shined and clean in front of a door or window. He will leave toys, nuts oranges, apples and chocolate for the good children. The bad child gets a branch to be used by the parents to punish the child.
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In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch counterparts use shoes.
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The poinsettia, a traditional Christmas flower, originally grew in Mexico, where it is also known as the ‘Flower of the Holy Night’. Joel Poinsett first brought it to America in 1829.
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When visiting Finland, Santa leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko. Finnish folklore has it that Ukko is made of straw, but is strong enough to carry Santa Claus anyway.
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In Syria, Christmas gifts are distributed by one of the Wise Men’s camels. The gift-giving camel is said to have been the smallest one in the Wise Men’s caravan.
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One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho.
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The popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells” was actually written for Thanksgiving. The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh”.
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There are 364 gifts mentioned in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
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George Frederick Handel’s great Christmas oratorio, “The Messiah”, was first performed in 1742, in Dublin.
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America’s official national Christmas tree is located in King’s Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the “General Grant Tree”, is over 90 meters (300 feet) high, and was made the official Christmas tree in 1925.
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The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25, AD 336 in Rome.
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Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones since 1991.
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St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early 4th century. The Dutch first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.
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Christmas has different meanings around the world; Christmas Eve in Japan is a good day to eat fried chicken and strawberry shortcake.
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Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday, and the tradition began in 1836.
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Many of the traditions associated with Christmas (giving gifts, lighting a Yule log, singing carols, decorating an evergreen) date back to older religions.
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In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal. The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral, banned the Christmas festivities. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660.
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Michigan has no official state song, but one, ‘Michigan, My Michigan,’ is frequently used. The words were written in 1863, and the melody used is that of the Christmas song “O Tannenbaum”.
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Franklin Pierce was the first president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree.
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Christmas Crackers were invented around 1846 by Tom Smith who developed them for Christmas from the French habit of wrapping sugared almonds in twists of paper as gifts.
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Roast turkey did not appear consistently on royal Christmas Day menus until 1851 when it replaced roast swan. The medieval dish of Boar’s head remained popular with Royals for much longer.
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Electric Christmas lights were first used in 1854.
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The holiday Boxing day was originally celebrated in England, for the servants to the rich people. After Christmas, the servants “boxed up” all the left-overs from the rich people and bring them home.
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- As of this morning, there are 19,496,200 active cases worldwide, with 1,566,091 deaths. In the US, there are 6,212,650 active cases, with 293,496 deaths
- The Trump administration jumped back into Capitol Hill talks on new Covid-19 stimulus. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made a $916 billion offer to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Tuesday. The California Democrat said the White House plan includes direct payments to Americans but eliminates a $300 per week federal unemployment benefit boost supported by bipartisan negotiators working to refine a $908 billion framework released last week.
- The day after the U.K.’s mass vaccination campaign began, Britain’s medical regulatory agency warned that “any person with a history of significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food” should not receive the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The announcement came after two health-care workers reacted adversely to the shot.
- A California judge issued a sharp rebuke to Los Angeles County’s ban on outdoor dining Tuesday, Politico reported, saying the rule amounted to an abuse of emergency powers that “is not grounded in science, evidence, or logic.” Practically speaking, the ruling will have no immediate effect on restaurants in Los Angeles. The county of 10 million people is under a temporary stay-at-home order from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that supersedes local restrictions.
- Like its regular season counterpart, college football’s bowl season has seen its fair share of atrophy because of the coronavirus pandemic. Ten bowl games have been canceled so far, with another two moved to different cities. That leaves 33 still standing.
- AT&T added 4 million HBO Max subscribers since Sept 30th. Total subscribers have reached 12.6 million. WarnerMedia will release all 2021 movies on HBO Max at the same time they hit theaters.
- Happy Meals may cost more in 2021 as McDonald’s has announced it will be ending a decades-long subsidy program in the new year. The brand disclosed the information internally last week. The subsidy for the iconic kid’s meal averaged to about $300 a month per restaurant. However, it will be ending January 1, 2021.