You may know him as America's first president, but George Washington had many talents,

including she's shopping.

I'm Jenna, and this is smarter news.

Happy George Washington's birthday.

That's the official federal holiday we celebrate today.

Yes, we often refer to it as President's Day because in your

state, it may officially be President's Day. In Texas, that's the case. President Lincoln's

birthday is on February 12th. George Washington's birthday is on February 22nd, so it makes sense.

And while we used to celebrate Washington's birthday on his actual birthday. An act of Congress moved it to the

third Monday in February, and here we are today. George Washington's birthday is one of the few

national holidays to honor an American. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the other. So as we mark

this very unique holiday, the birthday of our nation's first president, here's a few interesting

facts for your

consideration. The tradition of celebrating George Washington's birthday started before we even

won the Revolutionary War, before he was even president. In fact, a newspaper in Virginia

talks about marking the big day in 1779, so about three years after the Declaration of Independence.

And George Washington himself writes about,

you know, periodic celebrations he attends in his honor over the years. In 1832, Congress took a day

off to celebrate his birthday. And in 1856, Massachusetts became the first state to recognize

it as a holiday. But finally, in the 1880s, an act of Congress officially made it a

federal holiday, which has now evolved. There's a very interesting tradition that began in Congress

on the 130th anniversary of George Washington's birth in 1862. And this tradition continues until

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