Happy New Year

My pals and I would like to wish you the happiest of New Years, may 2015 bring you health, wealth, and prosperity!

The Funnies - The Snowman (1900)

Life Magazine, December 6, 1900

Merry Christmas to All!

Peeping Santa wishes all of you the Merriest of Christmases and so do I. Here's hoping you're safe and warm with your loved ones this Christmas Eve. May you find your heart's desire under your Christmas tree...or maybe the mistletoe!

Two Hundred Years Ago - The Sunset of the War of 1812

Two hundred years ago today, in the Flemish city of Ghent, two combatants sat down across from each other to sign a treaty ending two years of war and forging an unlikely alliance that would weather two World Wars and change the course of world history. Though Andrew Jackson famously defeated the British at New Orleans in January of 1815 and the treaty wouldn't be ratified by the US Congress until February 18, 1915, the Prince Regent's signature officially put hostilities to an end and restored the pre-war borders of both countries. Ironic that Britain and the United States would be involved in another war a century later, this time fighting side-by-side in the trenches. Time makes strange bedfellows.

12 Smokes of Christmas

Since first hearing T'was the Night Before Christmas many of us have probably imagined Santa with a brier pipe held in his teeth as he goes about the business of filling stockings and placing packages under the tree. Maybe that's what makes the eradication of smoking so hard, the ancient attachment and primitive magic of taking fire into ourselves.

Here's hoping your fire burns bright this holiday season and that you and yours gather around it, warm yourselves while you enjoy the company of those you love. Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

12 Smokes of Christmas

Webster Cigars, the gift that says silent loathing. Sometimes a cigar is just a reminder that that nuisance brother-in-law of yours will be staying until New Years Eve.

The Funnies - Mermaid's Christmas Tree (1900)

Life Magazine, December 1, 1900