Some Christmas Facts

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The common abbreviation for Christmas to Xmas is derived from the Greek alphabet. X is letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet.

In 1643, the British Parliament officially abolishes the celebration of Christmas.

Telesphorus, the second Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared that public Church services should be held to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour." In 320 AD, Pope Julius I and other religious leaders specified 25 December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531

In 1836, Alabama is the first state in the USA to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

In 1843, the first Christmas card was printed in England for Sir Henry Cole. He was busy man who wanted to save time in his own Christmas letters, but was also interested in encouraging the expansion of the postal system. 1000 copies of the card were sold at one shilling each. It was not until the 1860s that the production of cards accelerated, with cheaper printing methods. Then in 1870, the Post Office introduced a half penny stamp for sending cards.

The biggest selling Christmas single of all time is Bing Crosby's White Christmas.

The Christmas tree was first decorated with lights in the 16th century. It is believed that Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, was the first to add lighted candles to the tree. He was so taken with the Christmas night sky that he wished to bring "the lights of the stars" into the home of his family. From this, decorating the tree with ornaments, messages and notes, and small gifts emerged in later centuries leading to our customs today.

Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

"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.