Today is December 26, 2008- Friday. There are five days left in the year. The seven-day African-American holiday Kwanzaa begins today. This is Boxing Day.

On this day in history:

1606-  King Lear performed at Court.

1610-  Elizabeth Bathory's torturous attrocities were exposed.

1776-  British suffer major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during Revolutionary War.

1799-  Former President George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

1820-  Moses Austin asks Spanish for Texas colony.

1908-  Jack Johnson became the first African-American boxer to win the world heavyweight championship.

1917-  U.S. Government takes over control of nation's railroads due to authorization by President Woodrow Wilson.

1941-  Winston Churchill became the first British Prime Minister to address the U.S. Congress.

1972-  Harry Truman died at the age of 88.

1996-  JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her home.

2004-  More than 200,000 people, mostly in southern Asia, were killed by a massive tsunami that was triggered by a powerful earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean.

2006- Gerald Ford died at the age of 93.