Christmas Trivia

Christmas trivia

The Puritans in the 17^th Century banned Christmas, considering it ‘Popish’ (Catholic), and fined people five shillings for celebrating the holiday.  Christmas was not a popular holiday in New England until the mid-1800s.

In the East, Christmas is celebrated on January 6^th (end of the ’12 Days of Christmas’)

NORAD has been tracking Santa Claus since 1955, when a Colorado Springs newspaper ad for Sears misprinted the store’s “Santa” number and inadvertently gave children the number to the NORAD Operations Center.  The O-6 on duty that night answered the first call and instructed his staff to give a Santa status report to every child who called that evening.

‘Do You Hear What I Hear’ was written by Gloria Shayne Baker and her husband Noel Regney during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was intended as a plea for peace.  “…pray for peace, people everywhere…”

The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ has had a number of variations to its elements over the years, including: “Four Canary Birds,” “Four Ducks Quacking,” “Eight Hares a Running,” “Eight Hounds a Running,” “Nine Bulls a Roaring,” “Ten Men a Mowing,” “Ten Ships a Sailing,” “Eleven Ladies Spinning,” “Eleven Badgers Baiting,” “Twelve Bells Ringing.”

80’s Metal band Twisted Sister took the tune of their hit song ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ from the Christmas Carol ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’  Listen to the two songs side-by-side.  Your head will explode.

Santa Claus has his own zip code in Canada, H0H 0H0.  Every letter received for Santa at this zip code is personally answered in the language in which it was received, regardless of where in the world it comes from.

All the gifts in the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ total 364 gifts.

Per Facebook data analysis, two weeks before Christmas is one of the two most popular times for couples to break up.  Christmas Day is the least popular day.

Santa’s reindeer are all female, despite having male names.  Male reindeer grow antlers but shed them yearly before Christmas.  Female reindeer uniquely grow antlers and keep them year-round.

The best-selling song of all time is Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’ – over 100 million copies sold.  That song reached #1 on the billboard charts on three separate occasions.

In WW2, Germany allowed Christmas care packages to be sent to American POWs.  These packages included playing cards manufactured by the Bicycle Playing Card Company which, when soaked in water, revealed escape routes.  The Nazis never caught on to this.

An artificial Christmas tree would have to be re-used for about 20 years to be ‘greener’ than a fresh-cut tree.

A very popular Christmas dinner in Japan, apparently, is KFC.  Customers must place their Christmas dinner orders 2 months in advance.

Seven out of ten dogs in England get a Christmas present from their owners.  The number is five out of ten in the United States.

The image of Santa flying in his sleigh first appeared in 1819, created by Washington Irving – creator of the Headless Horseman.

During Christmas, 2010, the Colombian government decorated trees in the jungle with lights and motion sensors.  When guerrillas would walk by, the trees would light up and banners would appear asking them to surrender their arms.  The campaign was successful in convincing 331 people to surrender and re-enter society.  They also won an award for strategic advertising excellence.

During the Christmas season, 28 Lego sets are sold very second.

The largest Christmas gift ever was the Statue of Liberty.  At 255 tons, it was gifted to the US by the French on Christmas Day, 1886.

Saint Nicholas of Myra, the namesake “Saint Nicholas,” was at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.  During the back-and-forth, at one point he literally punched his debate opponent in the face!  So much for ‘jolly’…

‘Jingle Bells’ was the first song broadcast from space.  On December 16^th, 1965, the Gemini 6 crew serenaded Mission Control after reporting seeing a “red-suited astronaut in a low polar orbit."

Some consider the worst Christmas song ever to be Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”.  The song nets him nearly a half million dollars in royalties every year.

The famous "Christmas Truce" of World War 1 occurred in 1914, only about 5 months after the outbreak of war.  Soldiers on each side emerged from the tranches in various places, shook hands, retrieved and buried their dead, sang Christmas carols together, exchanged souvenirs, and even played soccer together.  In most cases, contact was initiated by the Germans.  Upon hearing of this Sir John French, one of the British Senior Officers, issued a general order stating that, "such unwarlike behavior must cease."  The Christmas Truce was never repeated during that war.
There are differing reasons for the tradition of putting oranges in Christmas stockings: 1) A representation of the gold the original St Nicholas (of Myra) left for the families he ministered to; 2) during the Great Depression, oranges were considered a luxury, one per year at Christmas; 3) a reminder to share what you have with others; or 4) a treat for children in northern climates, from a time when citrus fruits like oranges were difficult to get.
The Continental Army under General George Washington scored its first significant victory in Trenton, New Jersey, on December 26th, 1776 - many of the Hessian defenders still nursing hangovers from their celebrations on Christmas Day.
The movie 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' is cited as the event that killed aluminum Christmas tree sales in the 1970s.
The movie 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' was produced with a budget of $76,000.  The next year, the animated movie 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' was produced with a $300,000 budget.
The French word 'Noel' originally comes from the Latin.  It means 'birth'.
"X-Mas" was an abbreviation for Christmas first used in the 1600s.  The 'X' comes from the Greek letter 'Chi' which is shaped like the letter 'X'.  Chi, in the Greek, is a common shorthand for writing 'Christ'.
Coca-Cola originally began using the image of Santa Claus in its commercials in the 1920s.
The world record for the largest snowman is held by the town of Bethel, Maine.  The town worked together in 2008 to build a 122' 1" snowman, actually, snow-woman, they named 'Olympia.'  The snow-woman was nearly 11 stories tall!
Placing a candle in the window is a Christmas tradition of showing the world that the home is a Christian home, and inviting other Christians to come in and celebrate.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was created in 1939 for a holiday promotion for the store Montgomery Ward.  Years later, facing bankruptcy due to medical bills from his wife's terminal illness, as a gift to employee Robert May, the author, they gifted him the copyright to the story.
In some places in Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Years' Eve is said to bring love during the coming year.