Celebrate Every Day

Have You Heard Of The Highest Slam Dunk?

Welcome to December 1st, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate trick shots and the power of giving.

The Harlem Globetrotters basketball team practically wrote the book on trick shots, making near-impossible baskets in every way imaginable. And when it comes to slam dunks, there’s nobody better than Globetrotter Hammer Harrison. In 2019, he successfully completed the highest slam dunk ever. Now, you’re probably thinking—yeah, yeah—I’ve seen plenty of slam dunks before. Trust us when we say you haven’t. Harrison skydived from a plane that was 13,000 feet in the air and, as he floated in on his parachute, he slammed home a dunk just before landing. Take that, Lebron! On World Trick Shot Day,  you may not have access to a plane, but we bet that you can still drive your opponent crazy in your own game of HORSE. 

Every year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving we celebrate the National Day of Giving. Known on social media as #GivingTuesday this day celebrates the spirit of expressing our gratitude with action.  Perhaps the blur of hunting for deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday has already given you a mental workout.  Today we invite you to pause for a moment to consider your own good fortune. It's a gift that may not seem obvious at first, as we all feel consumed by our own needs and struggles. But the act of giving always holds the key to finding a silver lining and on National Giving Tuesday no act of kindness or charity is too small to count for those who are truly in need.  

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

How Will You Spend Cyber Monday?Check Our Computer Security Day Link For More Tips On How To Shop Worry Free!

Welcome to November 30th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate safety as we shop from the comfort of our homes.

Because so many people are online today looking for good deals, hackers are surfing the internet as well. It’s as big a day for deals as it is for identity theft. So while you’re getting your holiday shopping underway, pay special attention to your online security. Nothing will keep you completely safe, but there are some simple, common sense steps that you can take to protect yourself. As tempting as it may be, don’t use public wi-fi to do your shopping and use strong passwords for your online accounts. We get it—buying gifts online is much more convenient and makes life much easier, but you might as well be safe about it. On Computer Security Day, take a few minutes to check that you’re browsing the web safely so that you have one less thing to worry about during the holidays.

Shopping from the convenience of your living room has never been easier as we celebrate the phenomenon known as Cyber Monday.  What began as a marketing gimmick in 2005 was actually a clever trend prediction by Ellen Davis and Scott Silverman of The National Retail Federation.  They noticed the spike in online sales after Black Friday and figured that folks were using the faster internet at work to round out their holiday shopping.  A simple press release launched the phrase and the Monday after Thanksgiving became the biggest online shopping day of the year.  In 2019 that translated into more than 9 billion dollars in sales. It’s also a win win for shoppers who enjoy the ease of purchasing  from their mobile devices.  On Cyber Monday keep calm and shop on from anywhere you please.

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

How Do You Stay In Touch With The Ones You Love?

Welcome to November 29th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate the power of connecting to our loved ones.

Once upon a time, if people wanted to speak with someone who lived far away, they had to call them on the phone or even (gasp) write them a letter! Oh the horror! Connecting with people today is much easier. Whether it’s an email, a text, or even a post on social media, we can stay in touch with friends and family with little more than the click of a mouse. Electronic communication has made our world a little smaller and friends that live in Europe are just as accessible as friends who live down the street. So whether it’s a heartfelt email or a silly cat meme that you found online, let’s all take time on  Electronic Greetings Day to reach out to someone and share a smile.

Perhaps your holidays look a little different these days and while you may not be gathering in quite the same way, it has never been more important to preserve your family traditions.  During Family Stories Month we invite you to gather your shared memories and perhaps even offer to organize them for everyone to enjoy.  This can be as simple as a group email inviting family members to share their favorite holiday customs or stories.  You may be surprised at the different ways people remember the same events.  Offering photos or questions will get the ball rolling and you may want to include a story of your own to get the party started.  No matter how you celebrate this year, remind your family of what matters most; preserving the stories that bring you together across the decades and miles. 

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

What's Your Favorite Recipe For French Toast?

Welcome to November 28th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate supporting the small guys and a second life for stale bread.

In 2010, American Express launched Small Business Saturday as a way to help drive sales for retailers who don’t get much attention the rest of the year. There are around 30 million small businesses in the US and 1 in 5 are family owned. Yes, many of these shops fuel local economies, but they also offer amazing products that you can’t find anywhere else. Personalized, handmade jewelry, socks with your dogs picture on them. Or maybe something zany—like a painting of a dinosaur with Jeff Goldblum’s face? Small businesses have got you. And shopping at small businesses makes a big impact. On Small Business Saturday, don’t forget that supporting the little guy can help all of us.

Today we celebrate a breakfast food with as many variations as it has names.  While we know it best as French toast, it's actually not French at all.  The first known recipe goes all the way back to the 5th century AD when the Romans whipped up eggs and milk, dipped in bread and fried it in oil or butter.  It was later called “poor knights” in Germany and “eggy bread” in England.  And in France the name “pan perdu” is a perfect description for the magical transformation of stale or lost bread into golden toasted perfection.  Today we serve it with cinnamon and whipped cream, syrup or fruit and no matter what you call it, National French Toast Day invites you to enjoy this breakfast favorite!

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

Some Call It Craft Jerky And Others Call It... Well, You Decide.

Welcome to November 27th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate heaven on earth for shoppers and meat lovers. 

Congratulations! You made it through Thanksgiving with your family. Now brace yourself for the start of the Christmas shopping season. Here comes Black Friday! It’s a great day to find amazing deals on gifts for friends and family. Shopping today is hectic, but certainly not awful, so why does it have such a bleak name? Through most of the year, retailers operate making small profits or losing money, which is known as “being in the red.” But when Christmas shopping starts, sales go way up, and they begin to turn bigger profits, which means “being in the black.” Hence, Black Friday. I don’t know about you Marlo, but I’m holding out for online shopping.

The preservation of meat by smoking or drying has been around for a very long time.  Evidence of meat jerky is even found in the tombs of ancient Egypt.  And this makes sense when you realize that refrigeration has only been around a relatively short while.  But today we celebrate the artisanal flair of the folks who produce craft jerky with everything from elk to earthworms and even soybeans and mushrooms.  If your mouth suddenly stopped watering, it's okay.  Your taste buds may only be geared for the traditional beef kind originally produced by the South American tribes of the Andes.   On National Craft Jerky Day prepare your palate for something savory and something more adventurous if you dare.  

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

Did You Know That There Was No Pie At The First Thanksgiving? That's As Good A Reason As Any To Say: Let Them Eat Cake!

Welcome to November 26th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we give thanks for a favorite dessert and a meal that brings us together.

Today is National Cake Day and make no mistake, cake and ice cream is America’s favorite dessert.  Who can say if we invent reasons to serve it or if there is an unwritten law about special occasions that says “you gotta have a cake.”  The word comes from the Old Norse “kaka” and because of the lack of ingredients the cakes made by the Vikings looked more like gingerbread.  Hmm.  We know you’re saving all your room for pie today, but my family loves a cake that I serve that has layers of pumpkin and whipped cream and pecans.  So like I said, no matter what the occasion: there’s a cake for that.

Sarah Hale is not someone most of us know by name, but she contributed two significant things to American culture. First, she was the author of the classic nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb. Second, and more importantly, she played a key role in our celebration of Thanksgiving. In 1862, she wrote to President Lincoln, asking him to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Though he didn't respond for another year, in the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln fulfilled her request. He declared the holiday, asking Americans to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. We carry on that tradition today in many different ways but Thanksgiving Day is still an opportunity to bring family and friends together in the spirit of gratitude.  

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

Welcome to November 25th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate two ways to chase the blues away.

While today is National Blase Day, we know how to turn that frown upside down with a dessert known as the parfait.  If things are less than perfect have no fear; the French word for “perfect” inspired this creamy layered dessert that can be made with just about anything from ice cream to pudding to fruit with sauce.  Grab a beautiful glass and start layering the toppings and watch your bad mood disappear.  Of course if you wake up this way you may want to start celebrating National Parfait Day at breakfast.

When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in the late 1800s, the machines were far too expensive for most people to own. So businesses opened listening parlors, where people could pay a nickel to listen to a song. These machines came to be known as nickelodeons. The cool thing about them was that you could listen with friends as each nickelodeon was equipped with 4 listening horns. Eventually, these machines were able to play multiple records and were designed with amplifiers. The enduring appeal of the jukebox is that music is fun, but when you share it with friends who are home for the holidays it could become your new favorite tradition. On National Jukebox Day, drop a few coins in the machine and dance the night away. There's always tomorrow for cooking the turkey.  

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

Superfoods Come In All Packages. Are You A Fan Of Sour Or Salty?

Welcome to November 24th, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate nutritional powerhouses from the Mediterranean.

If you’re in France and someone offers you a grenade, don’t panic. That’s what the French call pomegranates. And while this fruit isn’t explosive, it is bursting with flavor and antioxidants. Pomegranates are native to the Middle East and became a favorite of the Ancient Greeks, who viewed them as a food of the gods. That’s why they appear in statues, stories, and even on coins from that era. In modern Greece people give pomegranates to friends and family as housewarming gifts. During National Pomegranate Month check out this powerhouse fruit that packs a potent punch.

While the Stinson Seafood plant in Prospect Harbor, Maine, closed its doors in 2010 after 135 year of producing the nation’s most sardines, this nutritious little fish is still being celebrated.  They were once found in abundance around the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea.  Today they are still found in cans packed in oil, tomato sauce, or mustard. Because sardines are at the bottom of the food chain they tend to be free of the contaminants such as mercury that are found in larger fish.   Full of Omega 3 fatty acids and other important nutrients, this silvery fellow packs a nutritious punch.  And while they may be swimming upstream in terms of popularity, on National Sardines Day we celebrate this tiny fish that’s ready to make a comeback. 

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

There's One Nut You'll Never See In A Shell, And We Wonder Who Took The First Bite Of This "Apple!?"

Welcome to November 23rd, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate intoxicating drinks and toxic nuts.

The word espresso in Italian means ‘quick in time.’  In the coffee houses and cafes of the late 1800s this simply meant a coffee expressly made for the person ordering it with freshly roasted and ground coffee beans.  Then in 1901 it all changed.  Luigi Bezzera invented the modern espresso machine which brewed a smaller, more concentrated cup even faster than other methods and with it an intoxicating layer of creamy foam on the top. Known as crema, it’s the holy grail of flavor.  It’s the secret behind delicious coffee creations from lattes to macchiatos to cappuccinos.  It’s the very reason I roll out of bed every morning, knowing that a small corner of perfection awaits me in the kitchen.  On National Espresso Day, espresso your own love for coffee and gratitude for papa Luigi.

When it comes to nuts, cashews are in a class of their own. You’ll find them in any can of mixed nuts, but they’re not exactly like the others. Their unique half moon shape makes them stand out from peanuts, walnuts, and almonds. And unlike pistachios, you’ll never see cashews in a shell. That’s because cashew shells are highly toxic to humans and can cause rashes similar to poison ivy. It makes you wonder what unlucky person first tried to eat one.  Cashews are found deep inside a fruit called a cashew apple and once they are removed from this covering, they’re not only edible, they are delicious. On National Cashew Day celebrate this nut that stands out from the rest.

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!

What's Your Favorite Cranberry Relish? It's Good To Have Everyone's Favorite On Hand.

Welcome to November 22nd, 2020 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate holiday traditions that please us all.

While cranberry relish is a staple on the Thanksgiving table today, we can be fairly certain it wasn’t part of the first Thanksgiving meal.  The colonists had run out of sugar at that time and for anyone who’s tried this ruby red berry unadorned, your pucker face says it all. The cranberry relish we know and love originated in the New England States in the early 1900s, and thanks to a lawyer, Marcus Urann who bought a cranberry bog in 1912 and later formed the company Ocean Spray we eventually had the cranberry relish I know and love: the jiggly kind that comes in a can.  My brother loves to make the fresh kind with jalapenos or horseradish or whatever foodie thing is new that year. But if I can’t see those lines from the can on that perfect round of sweet tart cranberry gelatin, it’s not Thanksgiving.  On National Cranberry Relish Day, sauce it up anyway you please, just remember to have something for everyone.

As we gather together with our families this week, we can be sure of a few things: we will eat too much and someone will stir up a family rukus. Plan ahead; not only for Thanksgiving dinner, but also for what to do before and after the feast is served. Games bring people together, which is exactly what this holiday is about. Yes, there may be some arguments, but it’s better to argue over who owns Park Place than so many other things.  This is National Game and Puzzle Week, an easy and fun way to keep things light, while dinner does the heavy lifting. 

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day!