David and I enjoy emailing one another a bit when we have spare moments @ work. In November David bought a 2010 calender put out by Peace Corps to support a group that provides education materials in Guatemala. This calender has pics of people all over the world and is marked with special days celebrated in a multitude of countries. Since he's started using this calendar he has been sending me interesting daily factoids.
I've decided this would be an fun way to occasionally update my blog when I get a chance. So here are the FYIs from today:

Today is Christmas in Russia:

“Christmas celebration in Russia is not as widely followed as in Western countries in favor of the New Year celebration. Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January (which corresponds to December 25 in the Julian Calendar). The tradition of celebrating Christmas has been revived since 1992, after decades of suppression by the communist government. It is centered on the Christmas Eve "Holy Supper", which consists of 12 servings, one to honor each of Jesus' apostles. The Russian traditions were largely kept alive by shifting some of them, including the visit by gift-giving "Grandfather Frost" and his "Snowmaiden", to New Year's Day. Many current Russian Christmas customs, including their Christmas tree, or "yolka"(spruce, sometimes pine instead of it), were brought by Peter the Great, after his western travels in the late 17th century.”

And the 7 Herbs Festival in Japan:

“The Festival of Seven Herbs, or Nanakusa no sekku (七草の節句), is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge (nanakusa-gayu) on January 7 (Jinjitsu).
The nanakusa are seven edible wild herbs of spring. Traditionally, they are :
Japanese parsley (seri)
Shepherd's purse (nazuna)
Jersey Cudweed (gogyō)
Common chickweed (hakobera)
Nipplewort (hotokenoza)
Turnip (suzuna)
Daikon (suzushiro)
There is considerable variation in the precise ingredients, with common local herbs often being substituted.
On the morning of January 7, or the night before, people place the nanakusa, rice scoop, and/or wooden pestle on the cutting board and, facing the good-luck direction, chant "Before the birds of the continent (China) fly to Japan, let's get nanakusa" while cutting the herbs into pieces. The chant may vary.
The seventh of the first month has been an important Japanese festival since ancient times. The custom of eating nanakusa-gayu on this day, to bring longevity and health, developed in Japan from a similar ancient Chinese custom, intended to ward off evil. Since there is little green at that time of the year, the young green herbs bring color to the table and eating them suits the spirit of the New Year.
The spring-time nanakusa are mirrored by the "seven flowers of autumn", which are bush clover (hagi), miscanthus (obana, Miscanthus sinensis), kudzu, large pink (nadeshiko, Dianthus superbus), yellow flowered valerian (ominaeshi, Patrinia scabiosaefolia), boneset (fujibakama, Eupatorium fortunei), and Chinese bellflower (kikyō). These seven autumn flowers provide visual enjoyment. Their simplicity was very much admired: they are small and dainty yet beautifully colored. They are named as typical autumn flowers in a verse from the Man'yōshū anthology.
The Japanese parsley (Oenanthe javanica) is one of the few non-toxic species of the Oenanthe (water dropworts) genus, which are otherwise extremely toxic. As this species is not found outside of Asia unless specifically cultivated, one should always consider wild-growing varieties of water dropworts to be lethal, even in small amounts.”

(Info from Wikipedia)

This is all very fascinating...
Since you made it this far, now you can hear my EXCITING news:

I'm going to be an AUNT! Baby Ganger is due to be born around July 17th of this year! I'm ecstatic! Yosi's pretty excited too. The other day when Kari was telling her about the baby in her tummy Yosi insisted that the baby was actually a bean that was going to be a tree. LOL. This is because when Kari first found out I went with her to a couple of ultra-sounds. At that time we told Yosi, who came with us, that the doctor was looking at a bean in Aunt Kari's tummy- so that she wouldn't accidentally "spill the beans". ;P Anticipating this new family member with great joy!