Today is Saturday, Dec. 25, the 360th day of 2004. There are six days left in the year. This is

Today is Saturday, Dec. 25, the 360th day of 2004. There are six days left in the year. This is Christmas Day. On this date in 1818, "Silent Night" is performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.
In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi assembles one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy. In 1926, Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito. In 1931, New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck. In 1941, during World War II, Japan announces the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong. In 1946, comedian W.C. Fields dies in Pasadena, Calif., at age 66. In 1977, comedian Sir Charles Chaplin dies in Switzerland at age 88. In 1989, ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, are executed following a popular uprising. In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev goes on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.
December 25, 1979: Despite the area's economic crunch, merchants report Christmas season sales were strong, and stores were crowded up until closing on Christmas Eve.
Marguerite Miller of Wilmington, Ill., runs an ad in a Chicago newspaper offering to sell one of her kidneys. The security guard, who makes $113 a week, says she needs money to support her ailing husband and 13-year-old daughter.
Parade Magazine's 1979 All-American High School football team includes two Western Pennsylvania standouts, Leroy Shepard, New Castle High School's defensive end, and Dwight Collins, Beaver Falls' running back.
December 25, 1964: About 6,000 Christian Arabs and foreigners pass though the Mandelbaum Gate separating the Israeli and Jordanian sectors of Jerusalem to attend Christmas celebrations in nearby Bethlehem.
St. Joseph Church in Sharon, Pa., holds its first Mass. The church on the city's East Side will be dedicated in the spring, says the Rt. Rev. Msgr. L.J. Kelley, pastor.
December 25, 1954: Youngstown does its part to put Christ back in Christmas as Protestant and Catholic churches throughout the district are reported filled to overflowing.
Old coin dealers are reappraising their price lists after the U.S. mint dumps more than 3 million previously rare silver dollars onto the market. The coins, minted in the 1880s, had been stored in a vault in the Philadelphia mint, but employees unaware of their collectable value put them in circulation. The coins were valued between $2 and $17 each on the collectors market.
Opening at the Palace Theater in downtown Youngstown: "Vera Cruz," starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster.
December 25, 1929: Crandall Park is the only park open for ice skating in Youngstown on Christmas Day. The ice at Mill Creek and South Side parks is only an inch and a half thick.
William J. Sampson, 58, of Logan Avenue Ext., capitalist and philanthropist, dies of a heart attack while visiting his son in Shaker Heights. He was the owner of the Witch Hazel Coal Co.
Fire in the West Wing of the White House interrupts President Hoover's Christmas Eve party and causes extensive damage to the president's offices.