12 Things About Christmas

1. The first Christmas trees were lighted with candles, which presented a fire risk. Thus containers filled with water needed to be held close to the Christmas tree.
2. The tradition of having a Christmas tree on display at the Rockefeller Center in New York City is going back to workers in the construction industry. They are credited with putting an undecorated tree at the site in the early 1930s.
3. The National Christmas Tree Association has sustained a presence in the White House at Christmas by donating a Christmas tree to the First Family since the mid-1960s
4. The first manufactured Christmas tree ornaments were sold in 1880 at the former Woolworth department stores
5. After tinsel for Christmas decoration uses was prohibited at one time, because lead was used in the manufacturing procedure, plastic became the primary material used to make them.
6. In the late 1830s the idea of Christmas greeting cards started in Britain, when John Calcott Horsley started to produce small cards with merry scenes and a written holiday greeting inside. Around the same time, similar cards were also being made in the United States by R. H. Pease and Louis Prang, who was a German immigrant. Sending holiday greeting cards acquired popularity in both countries later on, when new postal delivery services started.
7. Xmas, the shortened form for Christmas has been popular in Europe since the 1500s. Most believably it is derived from the Greek word 'Xristos' which means Christ.
8. Candy canes were only made in the color white for 200 years and it was not until the 1950s that a machine, that could automate the production of candy canes, was invented.
9. In England, the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day and it is a national holiday. There are several stories about the origin of the name. First it is said to have originated from the practice of boys collecting money in clay boxes. The second story says, that the term came from a tradition in the Middle Ages, about 800 years ago, when churches would open their 'alms boxes' and hand out its content to the poor on the day after Christmas. And the third story tells about a tradition of masters giving Christmas presents in boxes to their servants on the day after Christmas.
10. Already before Christianity started, evergreen trees had a special meaning to people in Europe in winter. Ancient peoples trusted evergreens to ward off witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness. Thus evergreen branches were hung over doors and windows. Evergreen plants also reminded the worshipers of the sun god, of all the green plants that would grow with coming back of summer.
11. In ancient times, a lot of people thought winter occurred annually because the god, sun, got health problems. Thus they worshiped the sun as a god in December and celebrated solstice as a sign of regaining strength and returning to good health.
12. Although Christmas in 1789 was the first to be celebrated under the United States' new constitution, legislators in Congress did business. This was because it had become unpopular to celebrate and participate in English traditions following the American Revolution. And, after Christmas celebrations were banned in Boston sooner in 1659 to 1681, it became expensive to be caught entering any Christmas related event or activity. Anyone seen doing so had to pay five shillings.