Christmas Trivia: 13 Fun Facts

We think some of these fun facts about Christmas will be surprising and even give you a little chuckle! Not to mention, they could be very helpful to fill those moments of awkward silence at your Christmas dinners. Oh, and don’t arrive empty handed, pick out a nice hostess gift for your Aunt Betty!

Top 13 Christmas Fun Facts!

1. Christmas is actually a shortening of “Christ's Mass”
2. The wildly popular Christmas song, "Jingle Bells", was not originally meant as a Christmas song. It was actually written for Thanksgiving!
3. The first artificial Christmas trees were seen in Germany. They gathered goose feathers and formed it into a tree after dyeing it green. The creators of this actually ended up being known for making one of the first toilet bowl brushes after trying to make a better alternative to goose feathers.
4. Christmas is sometimes depicted as “Xmas”. This is because “X” in Greek means “Christ”.
5. 51% of American pet owners buy their fur babies a Christmas gift. Sure, this doesn’t surprise us; who can resist adorning their mantle with a stocking or one of our furry craft kits made just for their favorite pet!
6. More people buy diamonds around Christmas time than any other time of the year, even including Valentine's Day.
7. VISA reports that during the Christmas season, their cards are used more than 6,000 times a minute.
8. If you are looking for sustainable uses for the good ol’ Christmas tree after the holidays are through, then you can consider eating it. For real! A lot of the parts of a pine tree are actually edible.
9. The busiest shopping day of the year is NOT Black Friday, but the Saturday before Christmas.
10. Did you know it would actually cost quite a fortune to send all those gifts mentioned in the Twelve Days of Christmas? Just a mere $13,000 for “7 swans a swimming”!
11. Famous people who were born on Christmas Day include: Isaac Newton, Humphrey Bogart, Demaryius Thomas, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat, Rod Serling, Sissy Spacek, Armin van Buuren, Dido, Annie Lennox and Jimmy Buffett.
12. Emperor Yoshihito of Japan, George Michael, James Brown, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charlie Chaplin, and Dean Martin are just some of the famous people who died on Christmas Day.
13. In a lovely story of generosity, St. Nicholas attempted to secretly give three pouches of gold coins to three young maidens for their dowries. He tossed them into the house through a window where they actually fell into the girl’s stockings left hanging to dry from the fireplace. This led to the beloved tradition of hanging Christmas stockings out for St. Nicholas.

Whether you decide to season your next meal with your Christmas tree’s dried pine needles or not, we hope these Christmas Fun Facts have helped you to enjoy the Christmas season even a little more. Want to keep the chuckles going? Check out these silly pets wearing their Christmas finest for your next crafting project or as a gift for someone on your list!