Christmas Special

Christmas is quite a holiday, and to honor it, I've compiled a list of some of the craziest things that have ever happened on Christmas day throughout history.

• 1828: I'm guessing that many of you have seen the popular film Home Alone, but I'm also guessing that you haven't heard about the story that inspired it. The hero of the real Home Alone story was not kid, but rather U.S. President John Quincy Adams. Having fought quite hard in a losing effort for the 1828 election, Adams was totally checked out by the time Christmas rolled around. The press had reported on this alleged "lack of caring" from the President, and word spread to the notorious Gilbert and Gilbert crime duo, terrorizers of the D.C. streets for years until they met their demise on this fateful Christmas. The infamous duo attempted to catch the president off guard and launch a surprise robbery of the White House. Of course, this was before the creation of the Secret Service, so protection of the president was more or less in his own hands. However, what the genius crime team could never have predicted was that President Adams was a man of great whimsy, and was able to create a series of clever traps and deterrents (as depicted, albeit through a modern lens, fairly accurately in the film) that were able to put an end to the criminal legacy of Gilbert and Gilbert. Though Adams widely bragged about this event, it was kept largely under wraps by the rest of the government, who didn't wish our enemies to get wind of a home invasion in the White House. The story was reduced to an urban legend until the publishing of Louisa Adams' personal diary in 1973 provided the necessary details to confirm the tale as true. 
• 1351: After doing some digging into the origins of the Santa Claus myth, I found that it comes from the latter years of the Black Death, and is in fact the making of a genetic anomaly. There was a Spaniard, known only as Estevan, who had been born with a genetic immunity from the plague. Born into a poor family around 1314, Estevan had toiled his whole life, working night and day just to survive. When the Black Death came in 1348, Estevan grieved as his family and friends were lost to the horrible disease. Estevan sat alone in his hovel, waiting for the plague to take him next. He waited and waited, and days turned into weeks then into months. After a year of seeing his town decimated by the ravaging disease, but not feeling any of the effects in himself, Estevan realized that he may be special. He began to go out and visit the sick, realizing that he would be able to approach them without being affected. Word of Estevan's miraculous abilities stretched far and wide, and he became an object of the Church's attention. They recruited him to be a symbol of joy during this difficult time, and they sent him off around Europe with carriages full of gifts to give to the children of suffering towns. Because of his burly stature and greying facial hair, he slightly resembled the long-passed, St. Nicholas, and the Church branded him as a sort of reincarnated figure. Estevan's last ever delivery occurred on Christmas Day in 1351. Shortly after departing the town, robbers stopped Estevan's caravan and, while the details of the encounter are unclear, his body was found three days later with a garden hoe lodged in his abdomen. Due to the timing of his death, many around the continent came to associate Estevan's, or St. Nicholas', passing as a symbol of Christmas. Despite initially being a somber figure, the Church was again able to spin him as a happy symbol, and even managed to turn the object used to kill him into his catchphrase. Thus, the legend of Santa was born.
• 2008: Somehow there's another story related to a United States presidential election. I am, of course, referring to Obama's insane Christmas rager after being elected to his first term. I don't really want to get too into this one (very gross), but picture Project X with access to the dark web and they're all 35. Safe to say, shit got very weird, and I'm guessing I'll never see Venus fly-traps, the letter J, or the monkey creatures from The Wizard of Oz the same way ever again. 

Merry Christmas!