Back in the days of my misspent youth, Nabisco ran a memorable commercial for Fig Newtons. In it, a young British boy of obvious wealth is sitting in his bed munching on fig newtons when his mother opens the bedroom door and warns the lad there is no eating cookies in bed. He replies with his finest Queen’s English accent, ‘it’s not a cookie, mummy, it’s a fig newton.”

“Oh,” his mother says. “Carry on.”

I got a lot of mileage out of that exchange. Joey, don’t torment your brother! He’s not my brother, mummy, he’s a fig newton! Did you throw the lounge chairs into the pool?? They aren’t chairs, mummy, they’re… (well, you get my point.)

So why am I writing about a commercial that’s almost 20 years old? Because today is National Fig Newton day. If those aren’t your thing, tomorrow is National Hot Buttered Rum day. Upcoming calendar events include days to appreciate popcorn, blondie brownies, granola bars, hugs, art and toothaches (yep, toothaches!) February 4th is National Create A Vacuum Day. I’m hoping most people don’t notice that because if too many vacuums are created, the world just might sink into some kind of temporal vortex which wouldn’t be pretty!

With so many commemorative days on the calendar you’d think the process to get one is easy. It is. Up until the 1950s, an officially recognized day took an act of Congress. Not coincidentally, the process was painfully slow. So William and Harrison Chase stepped up and created the first annual Chase’s Calendar of Events in 1957. Congress loved it and sensing a way to scuttle some of their legislative responsibilities, made the two brothers and their yearly book the official arbiters of nationally recognized days. Now all it takes is a mailed, faxed or emailed form with a brief explanation of what and when and the chances are real good your day will be granted.

Currently in their queue is National Digital Signage day and the mad marketers at Nanolumens are already devising the customs to go with it. Chief among them will be purchasing a Nanolumens large-scale visualization product.  And cake, of course.