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Christmas is a great time for getting together with your friends and family but once you’ve stuffed yourselves with turkey and the family gossip has dried up you might need something to get those brain cogs turning again. Here are ten Christmas facts you can use to amaze your family.
Fact 1: Before Christmas lights were invented people used to dress their trees with actual candles. As many trees caught on fire buckets of water had to be kept near the tree.
Fact 2: Construction workers placed the first Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York City in the early 1930s. Since then a tree has appeared every year.
Fact 3: The National Christmas Tree Association has gifted a tree to the First Family every year since the 1960s.
Fact 4: Manufactured Christmas tree ornaments were first sold by the Woolworth department store in 1880.
Fact 5: Tinsel was once prohibited as lead was used in the manufacturing process, since then plastic has become the primary material used to make tinsel.
Fact 6: In the 1830s a British gentleman called John Calcott Horsley started to produce small cards with festive scenes and holiday greetings inside – and the greeting card was invented.
Fact 7: The term Xmas has been used as a shortened version of Christmas since the 1500s. It is believed to derive from the Greek word Xristos which means Christ.
Fact 8: In England the day after Christmas Day is known as Boxing Day and is a national holiday. There are many stories behind the origins of the name, one is attributed to a Middle Ages customer where churches would open their alms boxes and distribute the contents to poor people the day after Christmas day.
Fact 9: Evergreen trees have had special meaning to people in Europe since Ancient times. Evergreen branches were hung over doors and windows to ward off witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness.
Fact 10: Christmas celebrations were banned in Boston from 1659 to 1681 and anyone caught participating in any Christmas related event or activity was fined five shillings.
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