26 Dec Fun Christmas Facts
* “Jingle Bells” was written in 1857 for Thanksgiving! It was originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh” to commemorate the famed Medford sleigh races.
* “Jingle Bells” is also the first song to be broadcast from space when astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sang it on December 16, 1965.
* X (“chi”) is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ or Christos so Xmas is a perfectly acceptable substitute for Christmas.
* The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany in the 19th century due to major continuous deforestation.
* Santa Claus owes his look to illustrator Haddon Sundblom’s 1931 Coca-Cola magazine advertisements.
* Santa has his own zip code in Canada – HOH OHO.
* Candy canes got their start in Germany before becoming a Christmas tradition.
* The most popular modern Christmas song is Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you”.
* Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the best-selling Christmas song ever.
* Male reindeer shed their antlers in winter so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are more than likely female or castrated!
* The Christmas wreath represents Jesus’ crown of thorns and the red berries the blood he shed.
* The three traditional Christmas colours symbolise – red (the blood of Christ), green (life and rebirth) and gold (light, royalty and wealth).
* If you gave all the gifts listed in the “Twelve Days of Christmas”, it would equal 364 gifts.
* Nova Scotia is the world’s leading exporter of Christmas trees.