December 26 – AD 35 Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr feast day.

Saint Stephen in Glory (detail) by Giacomo Cavedone

Saint Stephen preaching. “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56)

Boxing Day a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants. Bank Holidays Act of 1871—originally established the bank holidays throughout the UK, the day after Christmas was defined as Boxing Day in England, Scotland and Wales, and the feast day of St. Stephen in Ireland. In Scotland and England, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ diary entry for 19 December 1663, during Charles 2nd.

1135 Stephen’s coronation.

A 13th century depiction of the coronation of Stephen, by Matthew Paris

1291 John Balliol, Lord of Galloway King swore homage to Edward I for the Kingdom of Scotland.

1573 sometime in, the King James VI, confirmed the grant of lands to Sir Alexander Jardine of Jardinefield in Berwickshire; Applegirth and Sibbaldbie in Dumfrieshire; Hartside and Wandel in Lanarkshire; and Kirkandrews in Kirkcudbright. It is recorded that he had to muster 242 men to fight for the King if required. The Clan Jardine retainers, who had no surnames, who became known as “Jardine Men” and adopted Jardine as their surname.  Map showing Kirkcudbright, Dumfries, Berwick and Lanark, each about 30 miles across.

1647 to 1659. Scotland. No Post Christmas bargain sales. Celebration of Christ’s Mass was banned from 1647 to 1659 (as too Catholic for a Protestant country). After the restoration of Charles 2nd Christmas was resumed in 1660. Wonder if banning Chistmas turned the majority against Cromwell’s government? All this was 200 years before Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge.

1659 Boston. No Post Christmas bargain sales. Celebration of the Christ’s Mass was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681, after Parliament restored it.

1681 Boston. Presumably Post Christmas bargain sales could be resumed. However it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.

1688 The peers were joined by the surviving members of the Charles II’s Oxford Parliament, the last of reign (1684), ignoring the Members of Parliament who were just elected from James’s (2nd of England or 7th of Scotland) Loyal Parliament of 1685. The Earl of Nottingham proposed a conditional restoration of King James II, an idea supported by Archbishop Sancroft, but the proposal was rejected and instead the assembly asked William III to summon a convention.

1734 John Banister (December 26, 1734 – September 30, 1788) was an American Independence War patriot from Petersburg, Virginia. The son of John Banister and grandson of John Banister, the naturalist, he was educated at Middle Temple in London, England, admitted to Law on September 27, 1753. He was a member of the Virginia Convention in 1776. He also served in the House of Burgesses (1765–1775, 1777), the Continental Congress (1778 – 1779 as a delegate, where he was a framer of and signed the Articles of Confederation), and the Virginia House of Delegates (1776–1777, 1781–1783). On February 26, 1779, Colonel Banister married Anne (Nancy) Blair of Williamsburg. She was born in May 1746, the 7th child of John and Mary Monro Blair. (clans Munro and Blair).

http://www.coljohnbanister.org/banister.htm

  1. Glasgow. Highlander army, of Chevalier, retreat reaches Glasgow. Tytler’s Britannica 236.

1753 Also sometime this year. Captain Hugh “Seafoam” McDuck (1710-1776) signed a contract with Swindle McSue to deliver a chest full of horse radish to Jamaica. Three weeks later his ship sunk along with the chest before reaching Jamaica. (Fictional clan McDuck.)

1780 – Mary Fairfax Somerville, born Scotland mathematician (d. 1872) “On the same day these ordinances were performed, President Woodruff records in his journal that he baptized brother McAllister for 21 *** Sister Lucy Bigelow Young went Forth into the font and was Baptized for *** seventy (70) of the Eminent women of the world… .There were Baptized in all to day 682” (Woodruff, Journal 7:367-69)–Arnold K. Garr, Epilogue, Christopher Columbus, p. 71-73.) including Mary Somerville.

Mary Somerville. In 1812 she married another cousin, Dr. William Somerville (1771–1860), inspector of the Army Medical Board, who encouraged and greatly aided her in the study of the physical sciences. Having been requested by Lord Brougham to translate for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge the Mécanique Céleste of Laplace, she greatly popularized its form, and its publication in 1831, under the title of The Mechanism of the Heavens, at once made her famous. She stated “I translated Laplace’s work from algebra into common language”. Her other works are the On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834), Physical Geography (1848), and Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869). In 1835, she and Caroline Herschel became the first women members of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1869 she was awarded the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

1835 Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio. (clans Huntley, Hamilton, Mackenzie, Mack of Inverness, Malcolm King of Scots). Doctrine and Covenants 108.

1900 – A relief crew arrives the the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland, only to find the previous crew has disappeared without a trace.

Flannan Isles northwest of the Outer Hebrides in the Atlantic.

1940 The Philadelphia Story is an American romantic comedy film, Poster. Jimmy Stewart won an Oscar for Best Actor. James Maitland “Jimmy” Stewart 1908-1997. Major General United States Air Force, American actor, Scottish descent (clan Stewart). Katharine Hepburn (clan Hepburn), and Cary Grant (good Scot’s name for Archibald Leach).

Screenplay by Philip James Quinn Barry (June 18, 1896 – December 3, 1949), Yale college (When Barry was at Yale, he devoted his time to writing poetry and short fiction while working for the Yale Literary Magazine.

In 1919, when he returned from London (1917-1918), the Yale Dramatic Club staged his one-act play, Autonomy, and uncle to Lorenzo Semple Jr. (clan Semple). Barry became engaged to Ellen Semple (aunt of Lorenzo Semple, Jr.) but was determined to establish himself as a playwright before settling down. Ellen lived in New York while he remained in Cambridge, and there he wrote The Jilts, which reflected his own concern that marital obligations might thwart an artistic career and force him into the business world.[6] The play won the Herndon Prize in 1922 as the best drama written in Baker’s workshop. (On July 15, 1922, his doubts calmed, Barry and Semple were married, and their first son, Philip Semple Barry, was born the following year.)

1952 Castle in the Air, a British romantic comed, released in the U.S. Plot. The ancient ancestral home of Locharne (I believe the characters pronounced it LOCKHART) It clan is up for sale in Scotland. Referenceds to the Jacobites, Menzies is pronounced Mingis (Scots), Jacobite ancestors fled to join the Latter day Saints in Utah, Robert Bruce, pipes, kilts, Arizona and Texas. Robert Burns, Aberdeen, politics.  Briish Cemena

1978 Michelle R. Masayon born. (Somerville and 8 dozen other clans.)

2009 release date for Sherlock Holmes film. UK. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was from Edinburgh. Doyle said that the character of Sherlock Holmes was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom Doyle had worked as a clerk at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Sir Henry Littlejohn, lecturer on Forensic Medicine and Public Health at the Royal College of Surgeons, is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn served as Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, providing for Doyle a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime. Wikipedia.

Theatrical release poster. Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade, an investigator from Scotland Yard who hires Holmes to look into the murders.

2015 https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-reason-behind-christmas-2

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We can keep Christ in Christmas by giving to others some of what He has given to us, such as forgiveness, kindness, charity, and love. The most precious gift is the gift of ourselves.

Thomas S. Monson [Scots] encouraged, “May we all make the journey to Bethlehem in spirit, taking with us a tender, caring heart as our gift to the Savior.”

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