Funny Christmas Facts

1) The first Christmas card was sent in 1843. Within a few years people were already dreading the Christmas card list by October.

2) Santa Claus has been overdoing the winter clothes somewhat as he is not from the North Pole at all. He’s a Turk from Demre in southern Turkey (on the very warm Mediterranean) and was born in 270 AD. He is otherwise known as St. Nicholas.

3) Christmas was only made a legal holiday by Oklahoma in 1907. What cheerful people!

4) Charles Dickens wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ in just six weeks in 1843. It took another 149 years for his effort to be improved upon by The Muppets.

5) In Norway there is a custom to hide all household brooms on Christmas Eve in case witches come and steal them. So no witches will be receiving brooms as last-minute Christmas gifts in Norway, then!

6) Another odd Christmas custom in Caracas, Venezuela, is for people to roller skate to church on Christmas Eve.

7) Thirty million genuine Christmas trees are sold in the US each year. And each year millions of fake tree owners tick off another year’s investment return. It’s all about the long game.

8) The spelling of Christmas as Xmas was not in fact invented by Christina Aguilera. It isn’t even the normal Roman letter X. The X in Xmas is the Greek letter ‘chi’ which is an abbreviated form of the word ‘Christ’.

9) Santa would have to be travelling at 650 miles a second to deliver all the world’s presents during Christmas Eve night. That magic reindeer food sure is powerful stuff.

10) The needles of a Christmas tree are an extremely good source of vitamin C. So, if you’re still feeling hungry after the Christmas dinner…

11) “I’m dreaming of a fat royalty check”. The biggest selling Christmas single is “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby, which has sold 50 million units worldwide since its release in 1942.

12) Scholars believe Jesus was more likely born in a cave than a stable. So all those people who played a cow in their school nativity play have even more reason to feel humiliated.

13) The commonly-held notion that Coca Cola invented the modern image of Santa Claus is a myth. His cosy red outfit was well-established by the 1920s, and Coca Cola didn’t use it in their advertising campaigns until the 1930s. Hopefully someday Mrs Claus will get the credit her needlework deserves.

14) There are 364 presents mentioned in the song “The 12 Days of Christmas”, one for each day of the year, except Christmas Day itself. And yet still no iPad?

15) Forty-five per cent of the world’s population celebrate Christmas. A lot more than that endure the Christmas TV schedules.

We hope you enjoyed those, why not have a browse through the rest of our funny facts categories?