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Fun Christmas Facts

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.