On this day...

1 First Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
336 First recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec 25 occurs in Rome
597 England adopts Julian calendar
1066 William the Conqueror crowned king of England
1223 St. Francis of Assisi assembles First Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy)
1745 Treaty of Dresden gives most of Silesia to the Prussians
1758 Haley's comet first sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch during return
1776 Washington crosses Delaware & surprises & defeats 1,400 Hessians
1818 "Silent Night," by Franz Joseph Gruber & Joseph Mohr, sung for first time
1818 First US performance of Handel's Messiah, Boston
1837 Battle of Okeechobee-US forces defeat Seminole Indians
1843 First theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, NYC)
1848 New Haven Railroad opens
1868 Despite bitter opposition, President Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern Rebellion (the Civil War)
1888 First indoor baseball game played at fairgrounds in Philadelphia
1926 Hirohito became emperor of Japan (1926-1989)
1930 First US bobsled run open to the public (Lake Placid, NY)
1931 NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio
1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer
1941 Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong
1946 Constitution accepted in Taiwan
1950 Cleveland Browns beat LA Rams 30-28 in NFL championship game
1953 Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand)
1957 Ed Gein found insane of murder
1963 Walt Disney's "The Sword In The Stone" is released
1968 Frank Borman's Christmas reading while orbiting Moon
1973 Tommy Chambers (Scotland) finishes 51 yr. cycle tour (799,405 miles)
1974 Cyclone Tracy virtually destroys Darwin Australia
1983 First live telecast of Christmas Parade
1984 NBA's Bernard King scores 60 points
1989 Japanese scientist achieve -271.8øC, coldest temp ever recorded
1990 "Godfather III" premiers

Birthdays which occurred on December 25th:

4 -BC- Jesus of Nazareth, (est. date)
1821 Clara Barton, Oxford Massachusetts, nurse, founded American Red Cross
1855 James Galvin, pitcher, shut-out every opposing team in 1884
1878 W. Starling Burgess, yacht designer (America Cup's Enterprise)
1881 Joseph McCarthy, baseball manager (NY Yankees)
1883 Maurice Utrillo, France, painter (Port St Martin)
1887 Conrad Hilton, hotel mogul (Hilton Hotels)
1893 Fred Hillebrand, NY, actor (Martin Kane)
1899 Frank Fergusson, actor (My Friend Flicka, Peyton Place)
1899 Humphrey Bogart, NY, actor
1899 Raphael Soyer, painter (Arts & Letters 1945)
1900 Barton Maclane, Columbia SC, actor (Gen Peterson-I Dream of Jeannie)
1904 Gerhard Herzberg, physicist (molecular structure-Nobel 1971)
1906 Clark M. Clifford, US Secretary of Defense (1968-69)
1906 Lord Grade, British TV mogul (ATV)/movie producer (Boys from Brazil)
1906 William McChesney Martin, Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank (1951-70)
1907 Cab Calloway, bandleader/actor (Blues Brothers, Jazzball)
1912 Tony Martin, Oakland, singer (Tony Martin Show, Tonight We Love)
1918 Eddie Safranski, Pittsburgh, orchestra leader (Jonathan Winters Show)
1922 Kitty Kallen, Philadelphia, singer (Judge For Yourself)
1927 Nellie Fox, White Sox infielder (AL MVP 1959)
1928 Earl Brown, Salt Lake City, actor (Stovall-Operation Petticoat)
1937 O'Kelly Isley, rock vocalist (Isley Brothers-Twist & Shout)
1944 Henry Vestine, rock guitarist (Canned Heat-On the Road Again)
1945 Gary Sandy, Dayton Ohio, actor (Andy-WKRP in Cincinnati)
1945 Kenny Stabler, NFL QB (Oakland Raiders)
1945 Noel Redding, rocker (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
1946 Jimmy Buffett, singer (Margaritaville)
1946 Larry Csonka, NFL running back (Miami Dolphins, NY Giants)
1948 Barbara Mandrell, Houston, singer/TV host (Mandrell Sisters)
1949 Dan Pastorini, NFL QB (Raiders)
1949 Sissy Spacek, Quitman TX (Carrie, Coal Miner's Daughter)
1954 Annie Lennox, singer (Eurythmics)
1954 Robin Campbell, rocker (UB40)
1954 Steve Wariner, country singer (Small Town Girl)
1958 Rickey Henderson, baseball player
1962 Dean Cameron, Morrison Illinois, actor (Herbie-Spencer)

Deaths which occurred on December 25th:

1951 Harry T. Moore, Florida NAACP official, killed by bomb
1961 Dr. Rheinhold Rudenberg, inventor of the electron microscope
1964 Cheerio Meredith, actress (One Happy Family), dies at 74
1977 Charlie Chaplin, actor, dies in Switzerland at 88
1979 Joan Blondell, actress (Real McCoys), dies at 70
1979 Lee Bowman, actor (Ellery Queen, Miami Undercover), dies at 64
1983 Joan Miro, Spanish surrealist dies at his home in Majorca at 90
1985 George Rhodes, orchestra leader (Sammy Davis, Jr. Show), dies at 66
1989 Billy Martin, NY Yankee manager, killed in a car accident at 61
1989 Nicolea Ceausescu, dictator of Romania, and his wife, are executed