Ten Little-Known Christmas Facts

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, according to someone. And even though that someone isn’t on our list of fun facts, there’s plenty of other Christmas trivia to brighten this holiday season.

So settle down with a mug of egg nog and enjoy our gift to you, these 10 things you probably didn’t know about Christmas:

1. Your Christmas tree is edible. Well, unless it’s made of plastic. The bark of evergreen trees is not only edible, but is actually a pretty good source of Vitamin C. Just don’t eat the pinecones. And speaking of trees…

2. The average Christmas tree takes seven years to grow to a height of 6 to 7 feet. ...and is used for about two weeks. That means, if you were born today, and a tree was planted today, you’d be in second grade by the time that tree reached appropriate Christmas height!

3. Seven out of 10 dogs get Christmas presents from their owners. And they deserve them, too -- which is more than I can say about the cats of the world. I guess those other three-out-of-10 dogs shouldn’t have been digging in the back yard. Santa’s watching! Although…

4. Santa would have to visit roughly 1,300 homes per second to deliver presents just to the United States alone. This just proves what I’ve been trying to convince my niece this whole time: Santa really is magic.

5. Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is the best-selling Christmas single of all time. Not surprising that it beat out “Jingle Bells” -- that song doesn’t actually mention Christmas once.

6. If you count all the gifts given in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” you’d get 364, which means a gift for every day of the year -- except Christmas, I guess. If you ask me, I’d say just give me the five golden rings and keep the lords a-leaping.

7. The traditions of trees, mistletoe and elves all stem from pagan roots. In fact, a lot of Christmas traditions actually pre-date Christianity. Same with Easter. Look it up.

8. Humphrey Bogart and Sir Isaac Newton were both born on Christmas. Which probably made for terrible birthdays. And I doubt their parents doubled-up on the presents. Still, it was probably a better day than for these folks…

9. Famous clowns W.C. Fields and Charlie Chaplin both died on Christmas. And it’s no laughing matter, unless you’re thinking about Chaplin doing that funny penguin strut. Then it’s hilarious.

10. Holly wreaths are universal symbols. Ancient druid and pagan cultures believed holly had magical properties because it stayed green all year long, and would often wear sprigs and berries. Later, when Christianity took hold, holly wreaths became a popular holiday ornament. It is said that the sharp leaves and the round shape represent the crown of thorns, and the red berries represent the blood of Christ. Either way, holly wreaths have been a holiday tradition longer than there’s been a Christmas.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

Author’s note: Some information provided by http://www.christmasfacts.net/.