It's getting close to 2010, everyone is watching TV and the music is playing and you don't see any reason why the new year should be much different from the old. And you have a point. The countdown has started, ten, nine, eight, seven...
While this tradition seems pretty obvious, there are special procedures that must be observed:
Pinhead and UU have once again come through for us. In with the New Year, out with the Old Year, something like that.
Today is Hogmanay in Scotland, and New Year's Eve everywhere else. It is also National Champagne Day for obvious reasons.
Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the premier of the Beavis and Butt-head episode "Tainted Meat," in which extremely gross things were witnessed by Daria Morgendorffer. All of these gross things had to go with Beavis, of course.
Marvel-ous comics-miester Stan Lee is 81 today. Tim O'Neill appears here as the Incredible Hulk in his honor. (Thanks, UU and Pinhead!)
Two famous German women were born on this day, an actress and an author, who have found their separate ways into Daria lore.
Today is Boxing Day (nothing to do with "Boxing Daria") and also the 5th anniversary of the beginning of the first Daria Fandom Blog. The DFB was founded by CINCGREEN with the slogan: "We read the Daria message boards, so YOU don't have to!" To James Bowman's great work is this blog dedicated.
You've opened all your presents and you didn't get anything you wanted, which you had expected, but you did get a lot of stuff you didn't want, which you also had expected. It's time to kick back with your best friend and have some 
What could be better to find under your Christmas tree than this special item at right? Quinn, however, did not think much of this product and said so. (Pinhead and UU provided the large image.)
At left, another of those curious alter egos that leave you scratching your head. Wonder if the outfit is used for the same role-playing purpose as that racehorse costume Helen has for those special bonding moments with Jake. Mrs. Bennett's husband would pretend to be a reindeer-friendly Santa Claus, and... oh, let's not take that any further. Sorry.
Yes, once again it is time to look under the Christmas tree and find nothing, but in the closet nearby are two guys who are into some kind of kinky bondage thing. That's the Christmas spirit!
And here's a special message from X, who sez: "Yo, my homies, this be the X talking at ya! Time to get down with it and open presents! It's after midnight, so it's legal! Party on, and remember: be excellent to each other all year long, don't hog the nog, peace out on Earth, and Good Will Hunting!"
A Very Special Christmas with Beavis and Butt-head.
Suppose there was to be a Very Special Episode of Daria, in which she was sent to the hospital on Christmas Eve (for a rash) and was visited by one or more ghosts, per the familiar tale by Dickens.
Just 71 years ago today, the first live coelacanth (SEE lah kanth) was caught off the coast of South Africa. That makes today a Geek Holiday. The fish Mack caught is blue like coelacanths usually are. Do you know only one Daria fanfic even mentions coelacanths? Dang!
Capricorn is a constellation that dates back at least 5,000 years. Its origins might be connected with legends of a fish-man named Oannes, who taught the Babylonians (Sumerians, really) civilized behavior. It has been suggested by Carl Sagan that Oannes was an alien being, but it is also conjectured that the mythic creature represents the human sighting of a brilliant supernova 11,000 years ago, whose remains are now known as the Vela Supernova Remnant.
In the grand tradition of the worst supermarket gossip tabloids, mega-actor Ralph Fiennes (born 47 years ago today) once found himself torn between the steamy lusts of two oppositional sisters: the brainy and cynical Amy Barksdale (left) and the blonde Rita Barksdale (right). As you recall, Amy confessed her undying devotion to Ralph (pronounced like Rafe, rhymes with safe) in "Through a Lens Darkly," but tragically lost him to the scheming Rita before the airing of "Aunt Nauseam" (Rita: "... I promised Ralph—you know, the actor I've been dating—I promised to take him to New York for his birthday, maybe catch a play or two.") Thus, we know "Aunt Nauseam" takes place near this day, in December about 1999-2000.
Another cold case solved by the unstoppable Detective TAG. (Thanks once again to the awesome UU and Pinhead for the great images above!)
Today is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the Southern Hemisphere it is Monday. Throw the old Yule Log on the fire and haul out a bottle of fresh apple cider!
Twelve years ago today, the epic movie Titanic was released in the USA. This led directly to the penning of the Daria episode "Just Add Water," which shares many plot elements with the movie, except for being shorter. Brittany, upon being informed of the event in her history class, had this response.
Lots of Daria-related birthdays today (with the connections & links in parentheses). Christina Aguilera is 29 (Stacy Rowe alter ego at right); Brad Pitt turns 46 (many mentions); Steven Spielberg is 63 (Jaws, E.T.); Michael Moorcock is 70 (see here); Piltdown Man (at left) would be 97; Joseph Stalin would have been 131 (Stalin jokes); Saki would have been 139 (Clovis); and the Holiday Island High student named International Migrants Day turns nine but looks 17.
Canadibrit's heartwarming classic tale, "A Family Holiday," begins on this day nine years ago. (Prose version here.) Just thought I'd toss that out there. 
Today also marks the beginning of the ancient Roman party holiday of Saturnalia, a week-long festival that is directly to blame for the commercialization and debasement of every December holiday there is today. You know what Christmas cards and Chanukah cards look like. When the Roman sent Saturnalia cards to each other, the cards looked like this. The Romans forgot more about partying than we will ever know. Thank God they couldn't drive.
Today is National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day, and you know what to do. So do it.
