Original Blog Entry: Christmas facts

angelm — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:07:00 GMT

The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ's Mass.

The first president to decorate the white house Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce.

Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees. They were made of goose feathers and dyed green.

Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

The first Christmas cards were vintage and invented in 1843, the Victorian Era. (You can read more about the history of Christmas Cards here.)

It's a Wonderful Life appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.

Rudolph was actually created by Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's for a holiday promotion. The rest is history.

The Nutcracker is the most famous Christmas ballet.

Jingle Bells was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

If you received all of the gifts in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, you would receive 364 gifts.

The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800's.

Holly berries are poisonous.

Contrary to common belief, poinsettia plants are non-toxic.

Mistletoe was chosen as Oklahoma's state flower in 1893 and later changed to the state floral emblem.

In 1843, A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.

The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama.

Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.

An angel told Mary she was going to have a baby.

Clearing up a common misconception, in Greek, X means Christ. That is where the word X-Mas comes from. Not because someone took the Christ out of Christmas.

Traditionally, Christmas trees are taken down after Epiphany.

More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.

In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

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