Facts about Christmas

"Hot cockles" was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. It was a
game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player,
who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow. "Hot cockles"
was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era.

"White Christmas" (1954), starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, was the first
movie to be made in Vista Vision, a deep-focus process.

"The Nutcracker" is the name for the ballet performed around Christmas time
each year. "The Nutcracker Suite" is the title of the music Tchaikovsky
wrote.

"Wassail" comes from the Old Norse "ves heill"--to be of good health. This
evolved into the tradition of visiting neighbors on Christmas Eve and
drinking to their health.

A Christmas club, a savings account in which a person deposits a fixed
amount of money regularly to be used at Christmas for shopping, came about
around 1905.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig
prepared with mustard.

According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts
from their doting owners.

According to historical accounts, the first Christmas in the Philippines was
celebrated 200 years before Ferdinand Magellan discovered the country for
the western world, likely between the years 1280 and 1320 AD.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans buy 37.1 million real Christmas trees each year; 25 percent of them are from the nation's 5,000 choose-and-cut farms.

After "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories, one each year, but none was as successful as the original.

Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday.
This tradition began in 1836.

Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping
day of the year, it is not. It is the fifth to tenth busiest day. The Friday
and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year.

American billionaire Ross Perot tried to airlift 28 tons of medicine and
Christmas gifts to American POW's in North Vietnam in 1969.

America's official national Christmas tree is located in King's Canyon
National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the "General
Grant Tree," is over 300 feet (90 meters) high. It was made the official
Christmas tree in 1925.

An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on
Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is
believed to bring good luck.

An average household in America will mail out 28 Christmas cards each year
and see 28 eight cards return in their place.

Animal Crackers are not really crackers, but cookies that were imported to
the United States from England in the late 1800s. Barnum's circus-like boxes
were designed with a string handle so that they could be hung on a Christmas
tree.

As early as 1822, the postmaster in Washington, D.C. was worried by the
amount of extra mail at Christmas time. His preferred solution to the
problem was to limit by law the number of cards a person could send. Even
though commercial cards were not available at that time, people were already
sending so many home-made cards that sixteen extra postmen had to be hired
in the city.

At Christmas, Ukrainians prepare a traditional twelve-course meal. A
family's youngest child watches through the window for the evening star to
appear, a signal that the feast can begin.

At lavish Christmas feasts in the Middle Ages, swans and peacocks were
sometimes served "endored." This meant the flesh was painted with saffron
dissolved in melted butter. In addition to their painted flesh, endored
birds were served wrapped in their own skin and feathers, which had been
removed and set aside prior to roasting.

Before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in "A Christmas
Carol," three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens.
They were Little Larry, Puny Pete, and Small Sam.

California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North
Carolina are the top Christmas tree producing states. Oregon is the leading
producer of Christmas trees - 8.6 million in 1998.

Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorated
the Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided have the
ends bent to depict a shepherd's crook and he would pass them out to the
children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn't until about the
20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes.

Charles Dickens' initial choice for Scrooge's statement "Bah Humbug" was
"Bah Christmas."

Child singer Jimmy Boyd was 12 years and 11 months old when he sang the
Christmas favorite, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." The song hit the top
of the pop charts.

Christmas caroling began as an old English custom called Wassailing -
toasting neighbors to a long and healthy life.

Christmas Day in the Ukraine can be celebrated on either December 25, in
faithful alliance with the Roman Catholic Gregorian calendar, or on January
7, which is the Orthodox or Eastern Rite (Julian calendar), the church holy
day.

Christmas is a summer holiday in South Africa. Children are fond of the
age-old custom of producing pantomimes - for instance, "Babes in the Wood,"
founded on one of the oldest ballads in the English language. Boxing Day on
December 26th, when boxes of food and clothing are given to the poor, is
observed as a holiday.

Christmas is not widely celebrated in Scotland. Some historians believe that
Christmas is downplayed in Scotland because of the influence of the
Presbyterian Church (or Kirk), which considered Christmas a "Papist," or
Catholic event. As a result, Christmas in Scotland tends to be somber.

Christmas presents were known in antiquity among kings and chieftains,
especially on the European continent. However, they have been common among
ordinary people in Iceland only during the past 100 or so years.

Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be
eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine nuts, or pine cones,
are also a good source of nutrition.

Christmas trees are known to have been popular in Germany as far back as the
sixteenth century. In England, they became popular after Queen Victoria's
husband Albert, who came from Germany, made a tree part of the celebrations
at Windsor Castle. In the United States, the earliest known mention of a
Christmas tree is in the diary of a German who settled in Pennsylvania.

Christmas was once a moveable feast celebrated at many different times
during the year. The choice of December 25, was made by Pope Julius I, in
the 4th century A.D., because this coincided with the pagan rituals of
Winter Solstice, or Return of the Sun. The intent was to replace the pagan
celebration with the Christian one.

Cultured Christmas trees must be shaped as they grow to produce fuller
foliage. To slow the upward growth and to encourage branching, they are
hand-clipped in each spring. Trees grown in the wild have sparser branches,
and are known in the industry as "Charlie Brown" trees.

During the ancient 12-day Christmas celebration, the log burned was called
the "Yule log." Sometimes a piece of the Yule log would be kept to kindle
the fire the following winter, to ensure that the good luck carried on from
year to year. The Yule log custom was handed down from the Druids.

During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of
5,340 times every minute in the United States.

During the Christmas/Hanukkah season, more than 1.76 billion candy canes
will be made.

During World War II it was necessary for Americans to mail Christmas gifts
early for the troops in Europe to receive them in time. Merchants joined in
the effort to remind the public to shop and mail early and the protracted
shopping season was born.

Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using
electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new
lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

Following Princess Diana's tragic death in 1997, the Ty toy company, famous
in the late 1990s for its popular Beanie Baby line of beanbag animals,
issued a "Princess" bear in tribute. The royal purple Beanie, bearing an
embroidered white rose on its chest, became so desired that at Christmas
time, American collectors were willing to spend up to $300 for one on the
secondary market.

For every real Christmas tree harvested, 2 to 3 seedlings are planted in its
place.

There are two Christmas Islands.
The Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean was formerly called Kiritimati.
Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean is 52 square miles.

Frankincense is a sweet smelling gum resin derived from certain Boswellia
trees which, at the time of Christ, grew in Arabia, India, and Ethiopia.
Tradition says that it was presented to the Christ Child by Balthasar, the
black king from Ethiopia or Saba. The frankincense trade was at its height
during the days of the Roman Empire. At that time this resin was considered
as valuable as gems or precious metals. The Romans burned frankincense on
their altars and at cremations.

Franklin Pierce was the first United States' president to decorate an
official White House Christmas tree .

Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It is thought
to be the forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It has its origins in a
Celtic legend of the harvest god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of
all the good things of the Earth.

Frustrated at the lack of interest in his new toy invention, Charles Pajeau
hired several midgets, dressed them in elf costumes, and had them play with
"Tinker Toys" in a display window at a Chicago department store during the
Christmas season in 1914. This publicity stunt made the construction toy an
instant hit. A year later, over a million sets of Tinker Toys had been sold.

George Washington spent Christmas night 1776 crossing the Delaware River in
dreadful conditions. Christmas 1777 fared little better - at Valley Forge,
Washington and his men had a miserable Christmas dinner of Fowl cooked in a
broth of Turnips, cabbage and potatoes.

Greeks do not use Christmas trees or give presents at Christmas. A priest
may throw a little cross into the village water to drive the kallikantzari
(gremlin-like spirits) away. To keep them from hiding in dark, dusty
corners, he goes from house to house sprinkling holy water.

Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the
founding of the company.

Historians have traced some of the current traditions surrounding Father
Christmas, or Santa Claus, back to ancient Celtic roots. Father Christmas's
elves are the modernization of the "Nature folk" of the Pagan religions; his
reindeer are associated with the "Horned God," which was one of the Pagan
deities.

If traveling in France during the Christmas season, it is interesting to
note that different dishes and dining traditions reign in popularity in
different parts of the country. In south France, for instance, a Christmas
loaf (pain calendeau) is cut crosswise and is eaten only after the first
part has been given to a poor person. In Brittany, buckwheat cakes and sour
cream is the most popular main dish. In Alsace, a roasted goose is the
preferred entrée. In Burgundy, turkey and chestnuts are favored. In the
Paris region, oysters are the favorite holiday dish, followed by a cake
shaped like a Yule log.

In 1647, the English parliament passed a law that made Christmas illegal.
Festivities were banned by Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell, who considered
feasting and revelry, on what was supposed to be a holy day, to be immoral.
The ban was lifted only when the Puritans lost power in 1660.

In 1752, 11 days were dropped from the year when the switch from the Julian
calendar to the Gregorian calendar was made. The December 25, date was
effectively moved 11 days backwards. Some Christian church sects, called old
calendarists, still celebrate Christmas on January 7 (previously December 25
of the Julian calendar).

In 1907, Oklahoma became the last US state to declare Christmas a legal
holiday.

In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in
Austria.

In 1947, Toys for Tots started making the holidays a little happier for
children by organizing its first Christmas toy drive for needy youngsters.

In 1996, Christmas caroling was banned at two major malls in Pensacola,
Florida. Apparently, shoppers and merchants complained the carolers were too
loud and took up too much space.

In an effort to solicit cash to pay for a charity Christmas dinner in 1891,
a large crabpot was set down on a San Francisco street, becoming the first
Salvation Army collection kettle.

In America, the weeks leading up to Christmas are the biggest shopping weeks
of the year. Many retailers make up to 70% of their annual revenue in the
month preceding Christmas.

In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish,
lettuce, and spinach. The meal is traditionally eaten after the Christmas
Eve service, in commemoration of the supper eaten by Mary on the evening
before Christ's birth.

In Britain, eating mince pies at Christmas dates back to the 16th century.
It is still believed that to eat a mince pie on each of the Twelve Days of
Christmas will bring 12 happy months in the year to follow.

In Britain, the Holy Days and Fasting Days Act of 1551, which has not yet
been repealed, states that every citizen must attend a Christian church
service on Christmas Day, and must not use any kind of vehicle to get to the
service.

In Finland and Sweden an old tradition prevails, where the twelve days of
Christmas are declared to be time of civil peace by law. It used to be that
a person committing crimes during this time would be liable to a stiffer
sentence than normal.

In France, Christmas is called Noel. This is derived from the French phrase
"les bonnes nouvelles," which means literally "the good news" and refers to
the gospel.

In Greek legend, malicious creatures called Kallikantzaroi (also spelled
Kallikantzari) sometimes play troublesome pranks at Christmas time.
According to the legend, to get rid of them, you should burn either salt or
an old shoe. Apparently the stench of the burning shoe (or salt) drives off
the Kallikantzaroi. Other effective methods include hanging a pig's jawbone
by the door and keeping a large fire so they can't sneak down the chimney.

In Guatemala, Christmas Day is celebrated on December 25; however,
Guatemalan adults do not exchange gifts until New Year's Day. Children get
theirs (from the Christ Child) on Christmas morning.

In Medieval England, Nicholas was just another saint - he had not yet been
referred to as Santa Claus and he had nothing to do with Christmas.

In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch
counterparts, however, use shoes. Dutch children set out shoes to receive
gifts any time between mid-November and December 5, St. Nicholas' birthday.

In Norway on Christmas Eve, visitors should know that after the family's big
dinner and the opening of presents, all the brooms in the house are hidden.
The Norwegians long ago believed that witches and mischievous spirits came
out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding.

In Portugal, the traditional Christmas meal (consoada) is eaten in the early
hours of Christmas Day. Burning in the hearth is the Yule log (fogueira da
consoada). The ashes and charred remains of the Yule log are saved; later in
the year, they are burned with pine cones during Portugal's thunderstorm
season. It is believed that no thunderbolt will strike where the Yule log
smoke has traveled.

In southern France, some people burn a log in their homes from Christmas Eve
until New Year's Day. This stems from an ancient tradition in which farmers
would use part of the log to ensure a plentiful harvest the following year.

In Sweden, a common Christmas decoration is the Julbock. Made from straw, it
is a small figurine of a goat. A variety of straw decorations are a usual
feature of Scandinavian Christmas festivities.

In Syria, Christmas gifts are distributed by one of the Wise Men's camels.
The gift-giving camel is said to have been the smallest one in the Wise
Men's caravan.

In the British armed forces it is traditional that officers wait on the men
and serve them their Christmas dinner. This dates back to a custom from the
Middle Ages.

In the Netherlands, Christmas centers on the arrival of Saint Nicholas, who
is believed to come on horseback bearing gifts. Before going to bed,
children leave out their shoes, hoping to find them filled with sweets when
they awaken.

In the Thomas Nast cartoon that first depicted Santa Claus with a sleigh and
reindeer, he was delivering Christmas gifts to soldiers fighting in the U.S.
Civil War. The cartoon, entitled "Santa Claus in Camp," appeared in Harper's
Weekly on January 3, 1863.

In the Ukraine, a traditional Christmas bread called "kolach" is placed in
the center of the dining table. This bread is braided into a ring, and three
such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the center
of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Trinity.

In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of
the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them
to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather.
The turkeys were walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the
frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used for geese: instead, their feet
were protected with a covering of tar.

It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing the
Christmas pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a
clockwise direction.

It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating
tainted Christmas leftovers.

Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was born in a cave, not in a wooden stable. Caves
were used to keep animals in because of the intense heat. A large church is
now built over the cave, and people can go down inside the cave. The
carpenters of Jesus' day were really stone cutters. Wood was not used as
widely as it is today. So whenever you see a Christmas nativity scene with a
wooden stable -- that's the "American" version, not the Biblical one.

La Befana, a kindly witch, rides a broomstick down the chimney to deliver
toys into the stockings of Italian children. The legends say that Befana was
sweeping her floors when the three Wise Men stopped and asked her to come to
see the Baby Jesus. "No," she said, "I am too busy." Later, she changed her
mind but it was too late. So, to this day, she goes out on Christmas Eve
searching for the Holy Child, leaving gifts for the "holy child" in each
household.

Long before it was used as a "kiss encourager" during the Christmas season,
mistletoe had long been considered to have magic powers by Celtic and
Teutonic peoples. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and
increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring
themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits.

Mistletoe, a traditional Christmas symbol, was once revered by the early
Britons. It was so sacred that it had to be cut with a golden sickle.

More diamonds are purchased at Christmas-time (31 percent) than during any
other holiday or occasion during the year.

More than three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the United
States.

Myrrh is an aromatic gum resin which oozes from gashes cut in the bark of a
small desert tree known as Commifera Myrrha or the dindin tree. The myrrh
hardens into tear-dropped shaped chunks and is then powdered or made into
ointments or perfumes. This tree is about 5-15 feet tall and 1 foot in
diameter. Legend says Caspar brought the gift of myrrh from Europe or Tarsus
and placed it before the Christ Child. Myrrh was an extremely valuable
commodity during biblical times and was imported from India and Arabia.

New York City's Empire State Building's world famous tower lights are turned
off every night at midnight with the exception of New Year's Eve, New Year's
Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and St. Patrick's Day, when they are
illuminated until 3 a.m.

On Christmas Day, 1989, Eastern Europe was permitted to celebrate Christmas
freely and openly for the first time in decades. Church masses were
broadcast live for the first time in history.

One Norwegian Christmas custom begins in late autumn at harvest time. The
finest wheat is gathered and saved until Christmas. This wheat is then
attached to poles made from tree branches, making perches for the birds. A
large circle of snow is cleared away beneath each perch. According to the
Norwegians, this provides a place for the birds to dance, which allows them
to work up their appetites between meals. Just before sunset on Christmas
Eve, the head of the household checks on the wheat in the yard. If a lot of
sparrows are seen dining, it is suppose to indicate a good year for growing
crops.

One notable medieval English Christmas celebration featured a giant
165-pound pie. The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients
included 2 bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wild
ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 6
pigeons, and 7 blackbirds.

Originally, Christmas decorations were home-made paper flowers, or apples,
biscuits, and sweets. The earliest decorations to be bought came from
Nuremburg in Germany, a city famous for the manufacture of toys. Lauscha in
Germany is famous for its glass ornaments. In 1880, America discovered
Lauscha and F.W. Woolworth went there and bought a few glass Christmas tree
ornaments. Within a day he had sold out so next year he bought more and
within a week they, too, had sold. The year after that be bought 200,000
Lauscha ornaments. During the First World War supplies of ornaments from
Lauscha ceased, so American manufacturers began to make their own ornaments,
developing new techniques that allowed them to turn out as many ornaments in
a minute as could be made in a whole day at Lauscha.

Per a November 2000 Gallup poll, 60 percent of Americans thought they would
spend at least $500 that year on Christmas gifts. This was a slight drop
from 1999 gift-spending.

Postmen in Victorian England were popularly called "robins." This was
because their uniforms were red. The British Post Office grew out of the
carrying of royal dispatches. Red was considered a royal color, so uniforms
and letter-boxes were red. Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering
Christmas mail.

Queen Elizabeth's Christmas message to the nation was televised for the
first time on December 25, 1957. For the next 40 years, the BBC aired the
event.

Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the
third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the
National Football League.

Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner
and Blitzen.

Silent Night was written in 1818, by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr. He was
told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not
be prepared in time for Christmas Eve. He was saddened by this and could not
think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol that could
be sung by choir to guitar music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later
that night the people in the little Austrian Church sang "Stille Nacht" for
the first time.

Since the 1840s, the residents of Pietarsaari, a town on Finland's coast,
have decorated a Christmas street, Storgatan, since the 1840s. Suspended
over the street are three large illuminated decorations: a cross symbolizing
faith, an anchor representing h

St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early fourth
century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver,
and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became
the familiar Santa Claus.

Telesphorus, the second Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared that public
Church services should be held to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord and
Saviour." In 320 AD, Pope Julius I and other religious leaders specified 25
December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The "Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally written to help Catholic
children, in England, remember different articles of faith during the
persecution by Protestant Monarchs. The "true love" represented God, and the
gifts all different ideas:
The "Partridge in a pear tree" was Christ.
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity-- the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the
"Pentateuch", which relays the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven
sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is not irreligious. The first letter
of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was
originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and
charts.

The actual gift givers are different in various countries:
England: Father Christmas
France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas)
Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus) She is a beautiful fair
haired girl with a shining crown of candles.
Holland: St Nicholas.
Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch)
Spain and South America: The Three Kings
Russia: In some parts - Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure) in other parts
it is Grandfather Frost.
Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes. One is called Julenisse.

The best selling Christmas trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir,
Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia leads the world in exporting lobster,
wild blueberries, and Christmas trees.

The Christmas season begins at sundown on 24th December and lasts through
sundown on 5th January. For that reason, this season is also known as the
Twelve Days of Christmas.

The Christmas turkey first appeared on English tables in the 16th century,
but didn't immediately replace the traditional fare of goose, beef or boar's
head in the rich households.

The custom of singing Christmas carols is very old - the earliest English
collection was published in 1521.

The day after Christmas, December 26, is known as Boxing Day. It is also the
holy day called The Feast of St. Stephen. Some believe the feast was named
for St. Stephen, a 9th century Swedish missionary, the patron saint of
horses. Neither Boxing Day or St. Stephen have anything to do with Sweden or
with horses. The Stephen for whom the day is named is the one in the Bible
(Acts 6-8) who was the first Christian to be martyred for his faith.

The first British monarch to broadcast a Christmas message to his people was
King George V.

The first charity Christmas card was produced by UNICEF in 1949. The picture
chosen for the card was painted not by a professional artist but by a
seven-year-old girl. The girl was Jitka Samkova of Rudolfo, a small town in
the former nation of Czechoslovakia. The town received UNICEF assistance
after World War II, inspiring Jitka to paint some children dancing around a
maypole. She said her picture represented "joy going round and round."

The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1842.

The first commercial Christmas card sold was designed by London artist John
Calcott Horsley. He was hired by a wealthy British man to design a card that
showed people feeding and clothing the poor with another picture of a
Christmas party. The first Christmas card said, "Merry Christmas and a happy
New Year to you." Of the original one thousand cards he printed for Henry
Cole, only twelve exist today.

The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.

The four ghosts in Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" were the ghosts of
Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas Yet to Come, and the ghost of
Jacob Marley.

The movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000) features more than 52,000
Christmas lights, about 8,200 Christmas ornaments, and nearly 2,000 candy
canes.

The modern Christmas custom of displaying a wreath on the front door of
one's house, is borrowed from ancient Rome's New Year's celebrations. Romans
wished each other "good health" by exchanging branches of evergreens. They
called these gifts strenae after Strenia, the goddess of health. It became
the custom to bend these branches into a ring and display them on doorways.

The northern European custom of the candlelit Christmas tree is derived from
the belief that it sheltered woodland spirits when other trees lost their
leaves during winter.

The poem commonly referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" was originally
titled "A Visit From Saint Nicholas." This poem was written by Clement Moore
for his children and some guests, one of whom anonymously sent the poem to a
New York newspaper for publication.

The poinsettia, traditionally an American Christmas flower, originally grew
in Mexico; where it was known as the "Flower of the Holy Night". It was
first brought to America by Joel Poinsett in 1829.

The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was composed in 1857 by James
Pierpont, and was originally called "One-Horse Open Sleigh."

The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas carols.

The real St. Nicholas lived in Turkey, where he was bishop of the town of
Myra, in the early 4th century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a
Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his
name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

The Super Ball(R) was born in 1965, and it became America's most popular
plaything that year. By Christmas time, only six months after it was
introduced by Wham-O, 7 million balls had been sold at 98 cents apiece.
Norman Stingley, a California chemist, invented the bouncing gray ball. In
his spare time, he had compressed a synthetic rubber material under 3,500
pounds of pressure per square inch, and eventually created the remarkable
ball. It had a resiliency of 92 percent, about three times that of a tennis
ball, and could bounce for long periods. It was reported that presidential
aide McGeorge Bundy had five dozen Super Balls(R) shipped to the White House
for the amusement of staffers.

The table for Christmas Eve dinner in the Ukraine is set with two
tablecloths: one for the ancestors of the family, the other for the living
members. In pagan times, ancestors were believed to be benevolent spirits
who, when shown respect, brought good fortune.

The tradition of Christmas lights dates back to when Christians were
persecuted for saying Mass. A simple candle in the window meant that Mass
would be celebrated there that night.

The traditional flaming Christmas pudding dates back to 1670 in England, and
was derived from an earlier form of stiffened plum porridge.

The world's first singing commercial aired on the radio on Christmas Eve,
1926 for Wheaties cereal. The four male singers, eventually known as the
Wheaties Quartet, sang the jingle. The Wheaties Quartet, comprised of an
undertaker, a bailiff, a printer, and a businessman, performed the song for
the next six years, at $6 per singer per week. The commercials were a
resounding success.

Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch conservationist, banned Christmas trees in his
home, even when he lived in the White House. His children, however, smuggled
them into their bedrooms.

There are twelve courses in the Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper. According to
the Christian tradition, each course is dedicated to one of Christ's
apostles.

When Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, died on December 4,
1894, he willed his November 13 birthday to a friend who disliked her own
Christmas birthday.