Merrell In The Morning Fun You May Have Missed

Today's Celebrations

Free Shipping Day
Wright Brothers Day
A Christmas Carol Day - 1843 - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published in London and immediately sold out. He wrote the story in just two months, beginning in October, 1843 and finishing at the end of November. It was the first of five Christmas books by Dickens. Its successors were The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848).

Celebrity Birthdays

1933 - Nat Stuckey - country singer: Got Leaving on Her Mind, Days of Sand and Shovels, She Wakes Me Every Morning with a Kiss, Young Love [w/Connie Smith]; songwriter: Sweet Thang, Oh Woman, Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line; died Aug 24, 1988

1946 - Eugene Levy (67) - Emmy Award-winning writer: The Energy Ball/Sweeps Week, SCTV Network [1982-83]; actor: Second City TV

1967 - Bass player Duane Propes (46) born in Longview, Texas. He joins Little Texas, a six-man group whose thick harmonies lead to a successful 1990s run highlighted by "God Blessed Texas," "What Might Have Been" and "You And Forever And Me"

1966 - Tracy Byrd (47) is born in Vidor, Texas. Pledging a love for traditional country, he emerges in 1993 to record a series of hits, including "Lifestyles Of The Not So Rich And Famous," "Watermelon Crawl" and "The Keeper Of The Stars"

1953 - Sharon White (60), of The Whites, is born in Wichita Falls, Texas. Along with father Buck and sister Cheryl, she participates in several bluegrass-tinged early-'80s hits and joins husband Ricky Skaggs on the duet "Love Can't Ever Get Better Than This"

Tabloid News

@tipsforJesus

From independent.co.uk -

A mystery man has been tipping restaurant staff up to $10,000 and documenting his generosity on Instagram. The tips, charged to an American Express credit card, have been left across the US, with only an illegible signature and the handle @tipsforjesus stamped on the bill left as an identifier.
The Instagram feed, which now has over 55,000 followers, comes with the tagline, “doing the Lord's work, one tip at a time,”.
In Fairfield, Connecticut he left a $5,000 gratuity on a $112 bill at the Seagrape, and in Los Angeles a $1,000 tip went to a waiter at the Hungry Cat. In New York in the first week of December, a waiter in the restaurant of the NoMad Hotel got a $7,000 tip, another at The Smith restaurant was left $3,500, while $1,000 went to Aruj Dhawan, 25, at Bo's Kitchen & Bar Room.
Mr Dhawan had served three guests who walked in one recent Saturday evening. Their order - a whiskey, a beer, an appetizer, a pork ragout and a pork chop - came to $111.05, plus the $1,000 for the waiter.
Before leaving, the tipster had snapped a photo of the waiter with the check and posted it on Instagram.
Mr Dhawan later confirmed to the New York Post that one of the men was former PayPal vice-president Jack Selby, who had previously been rumored to be behind the generous giving. An original member of the PayPal team, Mr Selby made millions when the company was sold to eBay.