Town of Chino Valley
Senior Center
JH Mazy
Volume 3, Issue 12
1021 Butterfield Rd.
Chino Valley, AZ 86323
(928) 636-9114
Inside this issue:
NORAD Christmas Tracker
2
Sudoku
2
A Very Elvisy Christmas
3
Senior Center Closed 12/24 & 12/25
3
Word Search
4
Christmas Tree Trivia
5
New Year’s Eve Potluck
6
Sudoku answer
6
December Facts
7
Daily Events
7
What Happened in December?
8
National Brownie Day
9
Monthly Recipe
9
Senior Angel Tree
10
National Brownie Day Luncheon
10
Christmas by the Numbers
11
Shopping Trips
11
The History of Christmas Pudding
12
Christmas Dinner
13
Answer to Word Search
13
Hometown Chino Christmas
14
Ice Cream Social
14
December Birthday Luncheon
15
Merry Christmas in Different
Languages
15
Garden Café Lunch Menu
16
December 2015
Once again, another year has passed; however, what a year it has been! We
have said sad fare wells to friends and we have welcomed many new friends
into our little family here. As we remember those we have lost, it is a blessing to
see so many new faces enjoying the services we offer. We have served almost
20,000 meals to seniors in our community this past year, which include both
Meals on Wheels and Congregate Meals. Senior Center staff helped 735
people with outside agency referrals; outside agencies include, the Arizona
Department of Health Services for food stamps, AHCCCS (the state’s Medicaid
program), Home Health care, Hospice care and many others. None of our
impressive numbers would be possible without thanking all of our committed,
generous volunteers. We have over 50 volunteers that have worked in different
capacities throughout the year; we would not be able to deliver over 650 meals
every month to homebound seniors without the 15 dedicated drivers each week,
our thrift store would not be able to operate without the seven ladies who
graciously give their time each week, and let’s not forget the different volunteers
that welcome you each day at the desk and those that give you your hugs on a
daily basis. Thank you also to our volunteer trip drivers that make all of your
delightful trips possible there are many more volunteers who make our operation
possible, and we thank each and every one of you!
The greatest blessing of the year was the renovation of the Center. The
renovation included, new flooring, painting of the interior walls, a new reception
area, a coffee bistro, switching of the thrift store and office with a window looking
into the store, and last but certainly not least the beautiful outdoor area with
landscaping, fencing and a patio. We’d like to thank those that contributed to
this project whether it was monetary or by actually doing the work; Chino Valley
Lionesses, the Chino Valley Morning Lions Club, the Antelope Garden Club,
Classic Garage Floors, Stony Creek Builders, Paintworks, the High Desert
Artist Association, the Town of Chino Valley Parks Maintenance Crew, and
many other anonymous donors. Thank you to our Advisory Board for planning
and hosting our second annual car cruise which also helped fund the project.
We are looking forward to next year and continued participation by each and
every one of you; we are thankful for you all, and feel very blessed to be a part
of your lives. We eagerly anticipate welcoming new people, and continued
service to our already faithful participants! Here’s wishing you all a Holiday
Season filled with Beautiful moments and memories. Remember the simple
beauties of the season and a New Year Full of Promise.
Blessings to you all now, and in the New Year,
ORIGIN OF NORAD
Page 2
Senior Sentinel
(North American Aerospace Defense Command)
SANTA TRACKER
It was 1955, Colorado Springs, Colorado. An ad was printed by Sears, and
the number... well, the number wasn't Santa's phone at the North Pole.
Someone at Sears' ad department made a mistake, so the phone number
printed in the ad wasn't the one that the Colorado Springs store had set up
to take note of the children's wishes.
It was the hotline for the Continental Air Defense's Director of Operations,
Colonel Harry Shoup.
The CONAD boss wasn't amused when he got his first call. Instead of a
report on missiles falling over Wichita or a Soviet submarine surfacing on
the San Francisco bay, what he got was a six-year old telling him what he
wanted for Christmas. However, instead of telling the kid to go visit the
elves, he did something else: After the second boy called and after
realizing what was happening, he told his staff to start giving Santa's polar
coordinates to every child calling that line.
In 1958, CONAD became the North American Aerospace Defense
Command, a joint operation between the United States and Canada. By
then, the event was already being covered by the media, and kids were calling NORAD's phone number like
crazy. That Christmas Eve, hundreds of volunteers at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson Air Force base
spent part of their night answering the phone and telling kids where Santa was.
The rest, as it usually goes, is history.
Sudoku
Today you can go to www.noradsanta.org to track Santa’s whereabouts starting December 1st through
Christmas Eve.
Answer on Page 6
Volume 3, Issue 12
Page 3
Senior Sentinel
Page 4
Answers on page 13
Volume 3, Issue 12
Christmas Tree Trivia
 Christmas
trees
have
been
sold
commercially in the
United States since
about 1850.
 In
1979,
the
National
Christmas
Tree was not lighted
except for the top
ornament. This was
done in honor of the
American hostages in
Iran.
 Between 1887-1933 a fishing schooner called
the Christmas Ship would tie up at the Clark
Street Bridge and sell spruce trees from
Michigan to Chicagoans.
 The tallest living Christmas tree is believed to
be the 162-foot grand fir in Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho.
 The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition
began in 1933.
 Franklin Pierce, the 14th president, brought the
Christmas tree tradition to the White House.
 In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge started the




National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
now held every year on the White House lawn.
Since 1966, the National Christmas Tree
Association has given a Christmas tree to the
President and first family.
Most Christmas trees are cut weeks before they
get to a retail outlet.
In 1912, the first community Christmas tree in
the United States was erected in New York City.
Christmas trees generally take 6-8 years to
mature.
 Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states
including Hawaii and Alaska.
 100,000 people are employed in the Christmas
tree industry.
Page 5
 98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on
farms.
 More than 1,000,000 acres of land have been
planted with Christmas trees.
 77 million Christmas trees are planted each
year.
 On average, over 2,000 Christmas trees are




planted per acre.
You should never burn your Christmas tree in
the fireplace. It can contribute to creosote
buildup.
Other types of trees such as cherry and
hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the
past.
Thomas Edison’s assistants came up with the
idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.
In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lit
until December 22nd because of a national 30day period of mourning following the
assassination of President Kennedy.
 Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree
from the White House for environmental
reasons.
 In the first week, a tree in your home will
consume as much as a quart of water per day.
 Tinsel was once banned by the government.
Tinsel contained lead at one time, now it’s
made of plastic.
 In 1984, the National Christmas Tree was lit on
December 13th with temperatures in the 70s,
making it one of the warmest tree lightings in
history.
 34 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced
each year and 95 percent are shipped or sold
directly from Christmas tree farms.
 California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington,
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina
are the top Christmas tree producing states.
 The bestselling trees are Scotch Pine, Douglas
Fir, Fraser Fir, Balsam Fir, and White Pine.
Information from the History Channel
Puzzle on Page 2
Senior Sentinel
Answer
Sudoku
Page 6
Volume 3, Issue 12
Page 7
Basic Facts
December comes from the Latin word decem which means ten. It was originally the tenth month of the year
in the Roman calendar which began with March. When January and February were added to the Roman
calendar, December became the twelfth month of the Gregorian calendar. It is one of the seven months that
has thirty one days.
Birthstones
December has several birthstones. The traditional birthstones are turquoise, lapis lazuli and zircon.
Turquoise is also listed as a modern birthstone for the month along with blue topaz. In 2002, tanzanite was
added to the modern birthstone list for December
Flower
The flower for the month of December is the narcissus which symbolizes self-love, self-esteem and vanity.
According to Greek mythology, a youth named Narcissus was gazing down at his himself in a pond of water.
He fell in love with his own reflection. While kneeling beside the pond, he fell into the water and drowned. The
narcissus plant sprang up from the place where he died.
Astrological Signs
Sagittarius and Capricorn are the astrological signs for December.
Birthdays from December 1st through the 21st fall under the sign of
Sagittarius. Birthdays from December 22nd through the 30th fall under
the sign of Capricorn
Daily Events
Every MONDAY
12:30 PM -Cards and Games
Every TUESDAY
Interesting things to do
at the Senior Center!
First & Third TUESDAYS
10 AM— 12 PM—Free Blood Pressure Clinic
1 PM—Knitting & Crocheting
8 AM– Walking Club
10 AM—Grief and Loss Group
Second TUESDAY
Every WEDNESDAY
First & Third WEDNESDAY
9 AM—Horseshoes
12:30 PM—Pinochle
3 PM—Line Dancing
Fourth WEDNESDAY
Every THURSDAY
8 AM—Walking Club
1 PM-Painting Class
9 AM—Advisory Board Meeting
6 PM— Elks
12 PM—Shopping Trip
First FRIDAY
8:30 AM—Senior Pedicure Service
Page 8
Volume 3, Issue 12
December 1, 1990 - England was connected to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice Age as
engineers digging a railway tunnel under the English Channel broke through the last rock layer.
December 2, 1823 - President James Monroe introduced his "Monroe Doctrine" during his annual message
to the Congress, prohibiting any further colonization of the American continents by European powers, stating,
"we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as
dangerous to our peace and safety..."
December 3, 1967 - The first successful heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard at Cape
Town, South African, on Louis Washkansky, who lived for 18 days.
December 5, 1876 - President Ulysses S. Grant delivered a speech of apology to Congress claiming mistakes
he made as president were "errors of judgment, not intent."
December 6, 1877 - At his laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison spoke the children's
verse "Mary had a Little Lamb..." while demonstrating his newly invented phonograph which utilized a
revolving cylinder wrapped in tinfoil to record sounds.
December 7, 1941 - The U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese
aircraft in a raid that lasted just over one hour and left nearly 3,000 Americans dead.
December 10, 1950 - Dr. Ralph Bunche became the first African American man awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize, for his efforts in mediation between Israel and nearby Arab states the previous year.
December 11, 1901 - The first transatlantic radio signal was transmitted by Guglielmo Marconi from
Cornwall, England, to St. John's, Newfoundland.
December 13, 1991 - North and South Korea signed a treaty of reconciliation and nonaggression which also
formally ended the Korean War, although actual fighting had ceased in 1953.
December 15, 1964 - Canada adopted a new national flag featuring a red maple leaf on a white
background.
December 16, 1773 - The Boston Tea Party occurred as colonial activists disguised as Mohawk Indians
boarded British ships anchored in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 containers of expensive tea into the water.
December 17, 1903 - After three years of experimentation, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first
powered, controlled airplane flights. They made four flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the longest
lasting about a minute.
December 19, 1732 - Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard's Almanac containing weather
predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, eventually selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.
December 21st - Winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere today is the
beginning of summer.
December 23, 1987 - Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager set a new world record of 216 hours of continuous flight
around the world without refueling. Their aircraft Voyager traveled 24,986 miles at a speed of about 115 miles
per hour.
December 25th - Christmas Day, commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Although the exact date of
his birth is not known, it has been celebrated on December 25th by the Western (Roman Catholic) Church
since 336 A.D.
December 26th - Boxing Day in the United Kingdom and many other countries, a day of gift giving when
boxes of food, clothing and other gifts are traditionally given to employees, tradespeople and other service
providers.
December 29, 1890 - Members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry massacred more than 200 Native American (Sioux)
men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota.
December 30, 1803 - The Stars and Stripes flag was raised over New Orleans as the United States took
formal possession of the territory of Louisiana, an area of 885,000 square miles, nearly doubling the size of
the U.S. The territory had been purchased from France for approximately $15 million.
December 31st - New Year's Eve, the final evening of the Gregorian calendar year, traditionally a night for
merry-making to welcome in the new year.
Senior Sentinel
National Brownie Day
Page 9
December 8th
Each year on December 8, brownie lovers across the nation celebrate National Brownie Day.
Brownies were created in the United States at the end of the 19th century. A cross between a cookie
and a cake, they soon became very popular across the country.
With the chocolate brownie being the favorite, the blonde brownie runs a close second. A blonde
brownie is made with brown sugar and no chocolate and is often called a “blondie”.
There was a request for a dessert for a group of ladies that would be attending a fair in the late
1800’s. They wanted a small cake-like dessert that could be eaten from a boxed lunch. A Chicago
chef, working at the Palmer House Hotel, created the first brownie for the ladies, which featured an
apricot glaze and walnuts. The Palmer House Hotel still serves the original recipe brownies on their
menu.
Of brownies, similar to those of today, the earliest published recipes
appeared in the 1904, Laconia, NH Home Cookery, the 1904
Chicago, IL Service Club Cook Book, April 2, 1905 The Boston
Globe and the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook
Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer.
Three myths that have gained popularity over the years, regarding
the creation of the brownie:
 A chef accidentally added melted chocolate to biscuit
dough.
 A cook forgot to add flour to the batter.
 A housewife did not have baking powder and improvised with this new treat. The story tells
that she was baking for guests and decided she would serve them these flattened cakes.
However it was created, enjoy the day.
Recipe of the Month
Super Chocolate Chunk Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
 3/4 cup granulated sugar
 1/3 cup butter
 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
 2 eggs
 1 teaspoon vanilla
 3/4 cup flour
 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
Directions
1. In saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar, butter and 2 tbsp water to boil, stirring occasionally. Remove
from heat; stir in half of the bittersweet chocolate until melted. Let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in eggs, 1 at a time;
whisk in vanilla.
2. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; stir into chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining
bittersweet chocolate and white chocolate. Pour into parchment paper-lined 9-inch square metal cake pan.
3. Bake in center of 325F oven for 30 minutes or until tester comes out with a few crumbs clinging. Let cool in pan on
rack.
4. Cut into squares.
Page 10
Volume 3, Issue 12
Page 11
Senior Sentinel
Shopping Trips
The Senior Center with the help of volunteer drivers, offers transportation into
different shopping locations throughout the tri-city area once a month. This service
is available the fourth Wednesday of each month. The van leaves the Senior
Center at 12:15 pm and returns at approximately 3 pm. Pick up and drop off at
your home is also available. If you would like to go on a shopping trip or know
someone else who would like to participate, please call the center at 636-9114 to
make reservations or to have your
questions answered.
This month we will offer the service twice to
help with your holiday shopping needs the
dates will be December 9th and 16th.
Page 12
By Nate Barksdale
The History of Christmas Pudding
In America, Christmas Pudding (also known as plum
pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is
misunderstood. It’s the flaming center of the climactic
meal of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” and
pops up in carols themselves: “We Wish You a Merry
Christmas” has two whole verses about demanding
figgy pudding. But for the uninitiated, Christmas
puddings are eyed with skepticism befitting a dish
that can be accurately described as a cross between
a fruitcake and a haggis, set on fire.
Christmas pudding has its roots in medieval English
sausages, when fat, spices and fruits (the best
preservatives of their day) were mixed with meats,
grains and vegetables and packed into animal
stomachs and intestines so they would keep as long
as possible. The first records of plum puddings date
to the early 15th century, when “plum pottage,” a
savory concoction heavy on the meat and root
vegetables, was served at the start of a meal. Then
as now, the “plum” in plum pudding was a generic
term for any dried fruit—most commonly raisins and
currants, with prunes and other dried, preserved or
candied fruit added when available. By the end of the
16th century, dried fruit was more plentiful in England
and plum pudding made the shift from savory to
sweet. The development of the pudding cloth—a
floured piece of fabric that could hold and preserve a
pudding of any size—further freed the pudding from
dependence on animal products (but not entirely:
suet, the fat found around beef and mutton kidneys,
has always been a key ingredient).
By the mid-1600s, plum pudding was sufficiently
associated with Christmas that when Oliver Cromwell
came to power in 1647 he had it banned, along with
Yule logs, carol-singing and nativity scenes. To
Cromwell and his Puritan associates, such merrymaking smacked of Druidic paganism and Roman
Catholic idolatry. In 1660 the Puritans were deposed
and Christmas pudding, along with the English
monarchy, was restored. Fifty years later, England’s
first German-born ruler, George I, was styled the
“pudding king” after rumors surfaced of his request to
serve plum pudding at his first English Christmas
banquet.
As with many English-derived Christmas traditions,
the standard form for Christmas pudding solidified
during the Victorian era, when English journalists,
political leaders and novelists (not least Dickens
himself) worked to promulgate a standardized, familyfriendly English Christmas. Among England’s poor,
Christmas saving clubs sprung up to help
housewives lay away pennies throughout the year to
purchase pudding ingredients come Christmastime.
Senior Sentinel
Families
throughout
England
began
to
celebrate
the
last
Sunday before Advent
—in which the Book of
Common
Prayer’s
liturgy
includes
a
prayer that begins,
“Stir up, we beseech
thee, O Lord, the wills
of thy faithful people”—as “Stir-up Sunday,” in which
family members take turns stirring up the Christmas
pudding-to-be, which was then wrapped and boiled
and set aside to mature until Christmas Day. By the
19th century the ingredients were more or less
standardized to suet, brown sugar, raisins and
currents, candied orange peel, eggs, breadcrumbs,
nutmeg, cloves, allspice and plenty of alcohol.
For Victorian citizens of the British Empire, the
Christmas pudding was a summation of their
conception of the world: a globelike mass, studded
with savory bits from distant colonies, bound together
by a steamed and settled matrix of Englishness. An
1848 satirical cartoon titled “John Bull Showing the
Foreign Powers How to Make a Constitutional PlumPudding” showed an English stand-in preparing to
carve a bulging, holly-sprigged pudding labeled
“Liberty of the Press,” “Trial by Jury,” “Common
Sense” and “Order.” The Christmas pudding’s wellpreserved nature—it took a month to get seasoned
and could last over a year—meant it could be
enjoyed as a taste of home by far-flung soldiers and
colonizers. In 1885 a British newspaper reported the
joyful consumption of a plum pudding—sent overland
via special envoy from Tehran—by a group of British
soldiers stationed in northwestern Afghanistan.
Over the past century the Christmas pudding has
slimmed down and simplified somewhat, according to
modern tastes. The pudding-bag, in which the
pudding is twice-boiled, is often replaced with molds
shaped like a half-melon or bundt cake. Instructions
for lighting the brandy sauce prior to serving include
numerous fire-safety caveats. The pudding’s pagan
roots are now celebrated rather than swept under the
Christmas-tree skirt. A recent history cheerfully notes
that the game of “snap dragons,” in which children
compete to pluck raisins from the flaming brandy,
likely has origins with the Celtic Druids. Across the
Atlantic, where fruitcake’s own fortunes have waned
in recent decades, Christmas pudding remains a
curiosity known primarily from films, books and song
lyrics, and is associated with Christmas crackers,
paper crowns, Bob Cratchit and Boxing Day.
Article from History.com
Volume 3, Issue 12
Answer to Word Search
Puzzle on Page 4
The hidden sentence is:
THE TRADITION OF HAVING A CHRISTMAS
TREE ORIGINATED IN GERMANY
Page 13
Page 14
Senior Sentinel
Volume 3, Issue 12
Page 15
Merry Christmas in Different Languages!
Albania: Gëzuar Krishlindjet
American Samoa: - La Maunia Le Kilisimasi
Argentina: Feliz Navidad
Australia: Happy Christmas
Austria: Frohe Weihnachten
Belgium: Zalig Kerstfeest
Brazil: Feliz Natal
Canada: Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël
Denmark: glædelig jul
Filipino: Maligayang Pasko
Finland: hyvää joulua
France: Joyeux Noël
Germany: Fröhliche Weihnachten
Greece: Kala Christougenna (καλά Χριστούγεννα)
Hungary: Boldog Karácsonyt
Iceland: Gleðileg Jól
Ireland: Nollaig Shona
Italy: Buon Natale
Japan: Merii Kurisumasu (メリークリスマス)
Liechtenstein: Fröhliche Weihnachten
Lithuania: linksmų Kalėdų
Luxembourg: Schéi Krëschtdeeg
Mexico: Feliz Navidad
Monaco: Joyeux Noël
Netherlands: Prettige Kerstdagen,
Norway: God Jul
Philippines: Maligayang Pasko
Poland: Wesołych Świąt
Portugal: Feliz Natal
Romania: Crăciun fericit
Russian Federation: С Рождеством
Samoa: Manuia Le Kerisimasi
Spain: Feliz Navidad
Sweden: God Jul
Switzerland: Fröhlichi Wiehnacht, Joyeux
Noël
Ukraine: щасливого Різдва
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yugoslavia: Cestitamo Bozic
Page 16
Senior Sentinel