Here’s some interesting things that you may not know . . .
Christmas trees have been sold in the US since 1850.
It takes about 15 years to grow the average Christmas tree.
3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the US each year.
Jingle Bells was the first song played in space.
Visa credit cards are used about 6,000 times every minute during the Christmas season.
President Grant declared Christmas a federal holiday in 1870.
One in three men wait until Christmas Eve to do their holiday shopping.
In Japan, a traditional Christmas dinner is to go to KFC.
Tinsel was originally made with real silver
One of the most common of Christmas decorations worldwide, tinsel is well known for being sparkly and exceptionally glamorous. But did you know that tinsel was made initially with extruded silver to create the sparkly effect? That’s right, real silver!
It was first used in Germany centuries ago, but as silver tarnishes quickly, different metals were used over the years until we ended up with modern tinsel. This is made using various forms of plastic, so it’s lighter and much cheaper than using real metals.
Santa has his own postcode
We know that Santa has an important job every 24th December, and he knows where everyone lives. He does have his naughty or nice list, after all! But did you know that Santa also has his very own postcode? While the home of Santa may be the North Pole, Canada has a postcode reserved for children to send their letters to!
Each year, Canada Post helps Santa respond to thousands of letters sent from around the world to him, with the address being Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada. So, now you know where to send your letters next year!
Hanging stockings started by accident
Legend has it, we hang stockings by the chimney with care thanks to a poor man who didn’t have enough money for his three daughters’ dowries. Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night after the girls had hung their freshly-washed stockings there to dry. That’s where the gold ended up, and the tradition stuck.
We ship a ton of packages during the holidays
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the US Postal Service delivered an estimated 910 million packages in 2019 — in addition to almost 15 billion pieces of mail. That includes gifts for loved ones, cards and Christmas letters, missives to Santa and those dreaded holiday credit card bills. That’s why it’s so important to thank our mail carriers. They work harder than Santa’s elves!
Mistletoe is an aphrodisiac
The holiday decoration isn’t just pretty. It’s also an ancient symbol of fertility and virility—and the Druids considered it an aphrodisiac. So the next time someone cracks a joke about meeting you under the mistletoe, consider yourself warned.
Ham ranked #1
One of the showstoppers of Christmas dinner is carving the roast beast, whatever species it comes from. Google searches for “ham” and “turkey” both spike during the month of December, according to google trends data. Spiral-cut ham edges out the bird as the most popular choice for a Christmas table.
Your Christmas tree likely traveled a bit
Unless you cut it down yourself, your “fresh” Christmas tree probably spent weeks out of the ground before appearing at your local retailer. And there’s likely not much hiking into the woods involved, either: 98% of American trees today grow on farms, mostly in California, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the country’s top Christmas tree producing states.