1Christmas wasn't always on December 25
Culture Club//Getty Images While Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the actual date of the big event is lost to history. There's no mention of December 25 in the Bible and many historians say Jesus was most likely born in the spring. Some historians posit the date was originally chosen because it coincided with the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which honored the agricultural god Saturn with celebrating and gift-giving.
2Gifts have both Christian and Pagan origins
ljubaphoto//Getty Images 3Evergreens are an ancient tradition
tdub303//Getty Images The tradition of Christmas trees goes all the way back to the ancient Egyptians and Romans, who decorated with evergreens during the winter solstice to signify that spring would return. Evergreens reminded them of all the green plants that were to grow once the sun returned.
RELATED: How to Keep a Christmas Tree Fresh Longer
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
4You can thank Prince Albert for your Christmas tree
Hulton Archive//Getty Images Brew a steaming cup of tea when trimming your tree this year to pay homage to its origins. When Prince Albert of Germany got a tree for his new wife, Queen Victoria of England, the tradition really took off across the pond. A drawing of the couple in front of a Christmas tree first appeared in the Illustrated London News in 1848. After that, more and more folks starting following suit.
5St. Nick was more generous than jolly
DeAgostini//Getty Images You probably already knew that the idea of Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas. The saint wasn't really a bearded man who wore a red suit; that look came much later. In the fourth century, the Christian bishop gave away his large inheritance to the poor and rescued women from servitude. In Dutch, his name is Sinter Klaas, which later morphed into Santa Claus.
RELATED: Is Santa Clause Real? Here's the True Story
6Coca-Cola played a part in Santa's image
Library of Congress//Getty Images Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
7Hanging stockings started by accident
klikk//Getty Images Legend has it we hang stockings by the chimney with care because one year a poor widowed man didn't have enough money for his three daughters' dowries, making it difficult for them to marry. Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night and into the freshly washed stockings the girls had hung by the fire to dry. After that, the tradition stuck!
8Rudolph was a marketing ploy
YinYang//Getty Images Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in 1939 when the Montgomery Ward department store asked one of its copywriters to create a Christmas story for kids that the store could distribute as a promotion. In the first year alone 2.4 million copies were distributed and late in 1949 Gene Autry recorded the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". The adorable movie featuring the island of misfit toys and Herbie the elf hit the airwaves (and our hearts) in 1964.
9The eight tiny reindeer have had lots of names
Image Source//Getty Images Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
10Christmas wreaths are religious symbols
Marc Mcdermott / EyeEm//Getty Images 11"Jingle Bells" was originally a Thanksgiving song
Sitikka//Getty Images Turns out, we first started dashing through the snow for an entirely different holiday. James Lord Pierpont wrote the song called "One Horse Open Sleigh" for his church's Thanksgiving concert in the mid-19th century. Then in 1857, the song was re-released under the title we all know and love and it's still among the most popular Christmas songs today.
RELATED: 76 Best Christmas Songs of All Time
12Astronauts broadcast "Jingle Bells" from space
Brasil2//Getty Images Nine days before Christmas in 1965, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford aboard the Gemini 6 told Mission Control that they saw an "unidentified flying object" about to enter Earth's atmosphere, traveling in the polar orbit from north to south. Just as things got tense, they interrupted the broadcast with “Jingle Bells,” as Wally played a small harmonica accompanied by Tom shaking a handful of small sleigh bells.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
13"Silent Night" is the most recorded song
Uwe Krejci//Getty Images 14Celebrating Christmas used to be illegal
traveler1116//Getty Images From 1659 to 1681, anyone caught making merry in the colonies would face a fine for celebrating. The Massachusetts Bay Colony created the Penalty for Keeping Christmas. It was thought that "such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries" and were "a great dishonor of God and offense of others. The penalty for breaking the law was five shillings.
By the Revolutionary War, the day had so little significance that Congress even held their first session on December 25, 1789. Christmas wasn't even proclaimed a federal holiday for almost another century, proving that the Grinch's attitude toward the holiday was alive and well long before he was.
RELATED: Here's How People Celebrate Christmas All Over the World
15It's rumored that eggnog originated in medieval Britain
Sandy Potere / EyeEm//Getty Images Although there's no official confirmation on who invented eggnog, most historians agree that eggnog originated in medieval Britain. Eggnog was an upper class luxury since they were the only ones who had access to the milk, sherry and eggs required to create the original version. Monks in the Middle Ages added figs and eggs and called the drink"posset" while the wealthy kept with the simple recipe and used it for toasts or big events. Research shows that eggnog most likely became associated with the holidays due to a lack of refrigeration. It became a drink for the more common man in America because of the larger farming opportunities and more access to cows and chickens.
RELATED: 50 Boozy Christmas Cocktails That Are Sure To Get You Into the Christmas Spirit
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
16Christmas decorating sends nearly 15,000 people to the ER
Roderick Chen / Design Pics//Getty Images If you've ever watched Clark Griswold decorate his house in Christmas Vacation this stat likely doesn't shock you. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's most recent news release estimates that 14,700 people visit hospital emergency rooms each November and December from holiday-related decorating accidents — which is about 240 injuries per day. The most common accidents involve falling, lacerations and back strains.
RELATED: 100+ DIY Christmas Decoration Ideas
17Santa has his own Canadian postal code
Getty Images Every year, letters to Santa Claus flood post offices across the world. Cementing their reputation as some of the nicest people ever, some big-hearted Canadian post office workers started writing back. As the program took off, they set up a special postal code for Santa as part of a Santa Letter-Writing Program initiative: HOH OHO.
18Dry Christmas trees spark more than joy
MediaProduction//Getty Images Neglected, dried-out Christmas trees spark about 260 fires in the United States each year resulting in an average of 12 deaths, 24 injuries and $16.4 million in property damage, according to the Electrical Safety Foundation. An additional 150 fires are started because of holiday lights and other decorative lighting, resulting in an average of eight deaths, 16 injuries and $8.9 million in property damage per year. Not only will an errant spark ruin your holiday, it can put both residents and responding firefighters in danger.
RELATED: The Best Artificial Christmas Trees, According to Testing
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
19We ship a ton of packages at the holidays
Getty Images Last year, the U.S. Postal Service processed more than 11.7 billion pieces of mail and packages during the holiday season. That includes gifts for loved ones, holiday cards, Christmas letters to Santa and of course, those dreaded credit card bills from all the gift shopping.
20The term "Xmas" dates back to the 1500s
diegograndi//Getty Images Contrary to popular belief, "Xmas" is not a trendy attempt to "take Christ out of Christmas". "Christianity" was spelled "Xianity" as far back as 1100. X, or Chi, is the Greek first letter of "Christ" so "X" and back in the fourth century, Constantine the Great often referenced the shorthand version. Some say it was as early as 1021 that the abbreviation "XPmas" was used to reference the holiday, which was later shortened to "Xmas."
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below