Christmas time is a time of opening our hearts to everyone. A holiday season of awe, spectacle and wonder. Speaking of wonder, there is much surrounding Christmas, that many of us are not aware of. Hold on to your sense of humor and remember, Christmas is a time for celebration and fun.
- Years ago in England, pigs throughout the country would run and hide, or seek refuge in churches, a few weeks before Christmas. The traditional Xmas day feast, in jolly ole England, was the head of a pig. Butcher shops, throughout the country always made sure they had plenty of pigs heads on hand, to meat the demand.
- In England, more than half the canine population of this pet loving country, has a gift tucked under the Christmas tree for fido.
- Ross Perot (he once ran for president and was an owner of an electronics conglomerate) tried to fly over 20 tons of medical supplies and gifts to POW's in North Vietnam for Christmas.
- Friday and Saturday, before Christmas are the busiest shopping days of the year, not Black Friday.
- In the Ukrain, finding a spider web on Christmas morning, brings good luck.
- Tiny Tim's name was almost "Little Larry", in the Charles Dickens book, "A Christmas Carol".
- Because of religious influence, Christmas in Scotland is not widely celebrated as a holiday.
- Christmas used to be celebrated at different times of the year, until Pope Julius I nailed it down to December 25th, in the 4th century.
- Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch, "Sint Klass". It was the Dutch immigrants who settled in New York that brought this tradition to America.
- Santa's reindeer and sleigh came later, from Clement Clarke Moore's poem, "A Visit From Saint Nicholas", in 1822. In the poem, Moore give life to his reindeer by naming them, Dasher, Dance, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem.
- Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, might be the most famous of Santa's charges. He came to life by way of the song. Rudolph was created by Robert L. May, in 1939, as a marketing ploy for Montgomery Ward, the retail department store, Rudolph was popular, but did not have the whole world knowing about him until Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, sang "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer", in 1949.
- Will the world ever run out of Christmas trees? It's not likely. For every real, Xmas tree that is cut down, up to three seedlings are planted to take it's place.
- Who is "The Little Drummer Boy"? It's a good question. There is no little drummer boy.
- Why is Christmas, sometimes Xmas? It is a abbreviation. In Greek, the word for Christ is Xristos. Xmas means, Christ's Mass. It has been this way for several decades now.
- Santa's little helpers, those elves we all here about and are so fond of, came from Charles Pajeau. No one was buying his toys for Christmas, so Pajeau hired several "little people", had them dress up as elves,, and play with his "Tinker Toys" in a display window of a department store, during the Xmas season in 1914. It caught everyones attention and the rest is Christmas history.
- In 1947, Christmas was banned in England. Oliver Cromwell made Christmas illegal. He considered celebrating Xmas, by feasting and drinking very immoral. Cromwell was the leading Puritan during this time, so England had to wait until the Puritan's lost power in the government. In 1660, England was fed up, the Puritan's lost appeal and the ban on celebrating Christmas was lifted.
- Christmas babies are considered to be, specially blessed,being born on the same day as Christ. Yet, many believe December 25th is not the true birthday of Jesus.
- Christmas caroling, was very popular years ago. More recently, caroling was frowned upon. In 1996, caroling was banned in Pensacola, Florida. Shoppers complained that carolers at 2 malls were ruining their holiday shopping experience.
- Christmas Fruitcake seems to be popular, yet many wonder why. A recent survey suggests, 8 out of 10 people will eat a piece of fruitcake as a courtesy to the person who made it. Most of us do not like fruitcake, yet it is a tradition for the holiday season. In America, fruitcakes mass appeal began in 1913, as a mail order product.
- How did all of this retail insanity over Christmas begin? It started during World War II. Americans had to mail presents early to the troops to arrive on time. This is when the protracted shopping season of Xmas was born. Since then, the retail establishments have pushed the shopping season back more every year. Today, many merchants begin preparing product displays for Xmas, before Halloween.
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