On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist, a horror film starring
the actress Linda Blair as a girl possessed by an evil spirit,
made its debut in theaters; it went on to earn a reputation
as one of the scariest movies in history.

The post-holiday release served to help The Exorcist sell
tickets, as most moviegoers had time off.

It was the highest-grossing Christmas week release after
1997’s Titanic, and is still in second place.

William David Friedkin 
(August 29, 1935 – August 7, 2023)

On December 25, 1971, Garo Yepremian kicked a 37-yard field
goal in the second overtime of an AFC playoff game to give the
Miami Dolphins a 27-24 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the
longest game in NFL history.

Game time elapsed for the Christmas contest: 82 minutes and
40 seconds.

"After I kicked the ball," Yepremian told reporters, "I look up
at the sky and thank God for giving me the chance to kick it." 

Garabed Sarkis "Garo" Yepremian
(2 June 1944 – 15 May 2015)

Zacharias Ward (54) is a Canadian actor known for his role
as Scut Farkus (above) in the 1983 film A Christmas Story
and its 2022 sequel A Christmas Story Christmas.

(FOX NEWS) – Former NFL Hall of Famer and Eagles linebacker
Bill Bergey died today. He was 79.

Bergey, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1974-1980,
had been battling cancer for the past few years.

Although most Christians celebrate December 25 as the birthday
of Jesus Christ, few in the first two Christian centuries claimed
any knowledge of the exact day or year in which he was born.

The oldest existing record of a Christmas celebration is found in
a Roman almanac that tells of Christ’s Nativity festival led by the
church of Rome in 336 A.D.