Merry Christmas to you all as well
!
Cheers as well for the departure of The Fellowship!
As far as the significance of the date...as Tolkien states two completely opposite reasonings for the date as
Raynor points out, it's hard to say. I'm going to have to say Tolkien knew in the back of his mind why he chose this date, and he probably smiled when he realized it fit into his Middle-earth time.