Christmas Facts

The first printed Christmas card was made in England in 1843, designed by John Callcott Horsley for Henry Cole.

Jingle Bells was written in 1857 by James Pierpont, and it was first meant for Thanksgiving, not Christmas.

NORAD has tracked Santa on Christmas Eve since 1955, after a misprinted phone number sent children calling a military line.

Some of the earliest artificial trees were made in Germany from goose feathers dyed green.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer began in 1939 as a booklet written for the Montgomery Ward department store.

The poinsettia is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States minister to Mexico, who brought the plant home.

In Iceland, children leave a shoe in the window for the Yule Lads, who may leave a small gift — or a potato for naughty children.

In Japan, eating fried chicken on Christmas Eve is a popular tradition that grew from a 1970s marketing campaign.

Tradition says the candy cane shape recalls a shepherd crook, a nod to the shepherds in the Christmas story.

Tinsel began in Germany as thin strips of real silver hung on trees to catch the candlelight.

Silent Night is often described as the most-recorded Christmas song in the world.

A Christmas tree takes about seven years to grow to the height most families bring home.

Letters to Santa arrive in huge numbers at the Santa Claus Village post office in Rovaniemi, Finland, every year.

The tradition of a royal Christmas broadcast began in 1932, when King George V spoke on the radio.

In old custom, mistletoe was a symbol of peace, and enemies who met beneath it were expected to call a truce.

The stocking tradition is linked to a legend of Saint Nicholas dropping gold coins down a chimney, where they landed in stockings drying by the fire.

White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin, is one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Decorated trees became fashionable in Britain in Victorian times, after Prince Albert helped make the German custom popular at court.

The modern image of Santa in a red suit was helped along by 1930s Coca-Cola illustrations by Haddon Sundblom.

Christmas crackers were invented in London in the 1840s by Tom Smith, inspired by French bon-bons wrapped in paper.

Eggnog grew out of a medieval milk-and-egg drink called posset, served warm with spices.

The first recorded celebration of Christmas in Rome dates to the year 336.

Reindeer are real animals, and in North America they are also known as caribou.

Early mince pies really did contain meat, along with fruit and spices, long before they became sweet treats.