Festivus history, song, and drink for the rest of us

Happy Festivus — feats of strength, airing of grievances, and maybe a Festivus pole! National Day Calendar has the history of the day in Festivus | For The Rest Of Us | December 23.

Daniel O’Keefe, Reader’s Digest editor and author, created the holiday in response to family tension. One of its central practices is the “airing of grievances.”

He first celebrated the day in February of 1966. But later, the day was recognized as it is now, on December 23 in honor of O’Keefe’s first date with his future wife. O’Keefe’s son wrote the Seinfeld episode featuring the celebration.

That's the history with all the essential elements, including something mundane as a Festivus miracle.

Now for some music, O Festivus by Paul Westbrook.


I forgot to include a drink in my two previous holiday posts, Monstrum on 'The Wicked Feline Murder Floof, a Yule Cat Story' for Yule/Winter Solstice and A merry drum corps Christmas from March or Die and DCI — I blame the stress of grading for my oversight — so I'm making up for it by including Festivus Drink Recipe - theFNDC.com.

This drink is a Festivus for the rest of us! Learn how to make the Festivus in three easy steps and you and your guests will be consuming it in less than a minute. For the Festvus cocktail, you'll need citrus vodka, gingerbread liqueur, and cranberry juice.

This video is from eleven years ago, so it's about time I used it.

Stay tuned for two weeks of holiday material from "Saturday Night Live" for Christmas Eve and Eggnog Day and Christmas songs from Broken Peach.