Christmas related Facts

• The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ's Mass!
• The first president to decorate the white house Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce.
• Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.
• The first Christmas cards were vintage and invented in 1843, the Victorian Era.
• "It's a Wonderful Life" appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.

• "Rudolph" was actually created by Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's for a holiday promotion. The rest is history. 
• In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria.
• At midnight on Christmas Eve 1914 firing from the German trenches suddenly stopped. A German brass band began playing Christmas carols. Early, Christmas morning, the German soldiers came out of their trenches, approaching the allied lines, calling "Merry Christmas". At first the allied soldiers thought it was a trick, but they soon climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers. The truce lasted a few days, and the men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings, sang carols and songs. They even played a game of Soccer.
• "The Nutcracker" is the most famous Christmas ballet.
• The song "Jingle Bells" was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs.
• If you received all of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", you would receive 364 presents.
• The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800's.
• Holly berries are poisonous.
• Contrary to common belief, poinsettia plants are non-toxic.
• In 1843, "A Christmas Carol" was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.
• The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama.
• Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.
• Coca Cola was the first beverage company to use Santa for a winter promotion.
• Clearing up a common misconception, in Greek, X means Christ. That is where the word "X-Mas" comes from. Not because someone took the "Christ" out of Christmas.
• Traditionally, Christmas trees are taken down after Epiphany.
• More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.
• 7.6 million Christmas trees are sold each year.
• The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is not irreligious. The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts. In the early days of printing, when font sizes were limited and type was set by hand, abbreviations and ditto marks were used liberally. Xmas came into general use from the church!
• In America in 1822, the postmaster of Washington, DC, complained that he had to add 16 mailmen at Christmas to deal with cards alone. He wanted the number of cards a person could send limited by law.
• Oliver Cromwell, in England banned Christmas Carols between 1649 and 1660. Cromwell thought that Christmas should be a very solemn day so he banned carols and parties. The only celebration was by a sermon and a prayer service.