You probably have tons of Christmas events to attend this year, and if you’re looking for great ice breakers to enchant everybody at these parties, we got you covered! I mean, we all know our fair share about the festivity, its religious importance, and even its origins, but there’s a lot of pretty useless information that could actually make you pass as a Christmas expert. Take out your notebook and take notes because these random Christmas facts will at least make you win the office’s trivia game.
1. One of Santa’s Reindeers is named after another animal.
It’s not Dasher, nor Dancer, nor Prancer. It’s definitely not Comet nor Cupid, but Vixen.
2. How much do ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ presents would cost?
Buying the 12 Days of Christmas would cost $179,454.19Besides being probably the worst Christmas presents to five to your true love, that would mean they will have to take care of 178 birds.
3. What do Candy canes represent?
They might be one of the cutest and most delicious treats of the season but what it represents might not sound as cutesy. The color red in the candy symbolizes Jesus’ blood sacrifice, the white his purity. And if you wonder what the shape means, that’s simply the letter J upside down.
4. KFC the most popular Christmas dinner?
Well, not everywhere, but in Japan, the commercialization of Christmas took Japan by storm and KFC became a huge season trait. It’s so big that in some cities people must book two months in advance!
5. ‘Jingle Bells’ was the first song ever played in space
It all happened on December 16, 1965. Astronauts Walter Schirra Jr. ad Thomas P. Stafford just went for ut during a broadcast. They were at NASA’s Gemini 6A space flight.
6. ‘Jingle Bells’ was originally a Thanksgiving song
Talking about ‘Jingle Bells,’ this now-iconic Christmas staple wasn’t originally thought for this festivity but Thanksgiving. James Lord Pierpont wrote the song for his Thanksgiving Sunday school class in 1850 and it was originally called ‘The One Horse Open Sleigh.’
7. Once upon a time, Christmas was illegal
Well, not everywhere but for a year in 1969, Christmas was made illegal in the Massachusetts-Bay Colony. It would be until the second half of the 19th century when Christmas became a widely popular festivity in the US and it was even recognized as a federal holiday in 1870.
8. A Christmas Carol was written in only six weeks
Charles Dickens was truly a genius but one would think that the most iconic and popular of his books would’ve taken him a bit longer to produce. Well, in just a month and a half he delivered one of the most heartwarming stories of the season.
9. Christmas lights used to be rented
It took the US and the world years and years to adopt electricity as the main source of lightning, and even when Christmas lights were invented shortly after the bulb was introduced into households, these lights were so expensive that for decades people would just resort to renting them.
10. Many couples break up right before Christmas
‘Tis the season to be single! Perhaps it is the pressure of getting a gift or the winter blues, but two weeks before Christmas has been identified as a very common date for couples to break up.
11. The first Christmas celebrated in the US was in 1539
It happened in Tallahassee, Florida, and unlike all the fuzz we do today during the Holidays, these settlers only celebrated a mass. Not even a dinner party was held.
12. What does the ‘X’ in X-Mass stands for?
We all love that cool contraction of the word Christmas, but it actually has a deep meaning. ‘X’ represents the letter ‘Chi,’ which means Christ in Greek.
13. Mistletoes were aphrodisiac
Ancient Greeks considered mistletoes to be aphrodisiac. They believed this plant also bestowed fertility; thus, the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe began. This practice was associated with marriage and courting.
14. The creator of the Headless Horseman also invented the image of Santa riding in a flying sleigh
Washington Irving, famous for his Legend of Sleepy Hollow, described in his 1819 short stories collection, a dream he had in which the adorable Santa was flying through the sky in a wagon. The tale became so popular that eventually, the wagon turned into a sleigh, and reindeers were added to the picture. Thankfully, Santa kept his head in his dream!
15. Christmas trees take years and years to grow
It takes around 15 years for a nice Christmas tree to grow into a considerable size to be fit at houses. However, since the nineteenth century, there have been crops specialized in cultivating these gorgeous Christmas staples, so it’s unlikely we’ll run out of them.
16. Rudolph was a marketing stunt
Although we all love the story about the bullied reindeer that became Santa’s favorite, like Santa and the famous cola drink, it was actually all an advertisement stunt created for Montgomery Ward’s season publicity in 1839.
17. What’s the most common illness of the season?
Flu and similar ailments are the protagonists of the season; however, almost half a million of the illnesses reported in the US come actually from spoilt Christmas leftovers. They are yummy, but they won’t last long!
18. How many Christmas cards are sold yearly?
Americans are amongst the most avid Christmas Cards shoppers, with an astounding amount of over 1.6 billion cards sold yearly! Have you gotten yours yet?
19. Which president put up the first Christmas tree at the White House?
President Benjamin Harrison was the first one to place a Christmas tree in the White House in 1889. It was nicely decorated with candles, toys, and vintage ornaments. Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt banned Christmas trees in the White House in 1902?
20. Where do the traditional Christmas ugly sweaters come from?
Ugly sweaters made their debut in the 50s when the commercialization of Christmas took up to another scale. They were originally called Jingle Bell Sweaters, and basically, for decades it became a staple we would all see on television, ads, and movies. However, the city of Vancouver has claimed for ages that they’re the originators of the classic ugly Christmas sweater party. Thanks, Canada!
21. The word ‘Merry’ was really frowned upon
Although we can’t think of Christmas without the Merry preceding it, for some time the word was not that well accepted. Back in the day, merry used to mean being a bit drunk, so it wasn’t really the example people want to set.
22. There is a Santa Claus school!
Deep in the heart of Michigan, in Midland, there’s a very special school (The Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School) that welcomes around 130 Santas each year to learn about the history of Saint Nicholas and everything there is to be known to become a real-life Santa.
23. What’s the origin of the eggnog?
That delicious drink of the season has a very old history that dates back to the Middle Ages. It was originally called ‘Posset’ and people in Britain would enjoy it as a traditional milky ale beverage. It eventually became tastier… and cleaner.
24. Why do we give presents at Christmas?
We had to close this list of random facts with one of the most important aspects of the festivity, the gifts! As you might’ve guessed, this tradition is linked to the biblical story of Jesus’ birth. The gifts we receive and give symbolize the presents given to Baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men. Thank god we don’t receive Myrrh nowadays, though I wouldn’t mind the gold!
Photos from: Pexels: olia danilevich / Shutterstock / Pexels: Nadi Lindsay / Shutterstock / Unsplash: Tim Gouw / Shutterstock