- Far from being steeped in centuries of Christmas tradition, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by Robert L May for a department stores promotional Christmas colouring book in 1939.
- Festive favourite Jingle Bells was the first song played in space. It jingled all the way on 16 December 1965 during NASA's Gemini 6A space flight.
- A 2016 poll found 57% of UK adults would go without seeing relatives on Christmas day if it meant they could spend more time on Facebook.
- It only needs one snowflake to be observed falling somewhere in the UK on December 25 for the Met Office to officially declare it a white Christmas.
- A 2019 study found that people who put up their Christmas decorations early tend to be happier and healthier and that festive decorations are an anchor or pathway to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement.
- We will scoff, on average, a whopping 6,000 calories on Christmas day -around three times our normal daily amount.
- In the 17th Century, Oliver Cromwell made it illegal to eat mince pies and Christmas pudding on Christmas Day to ban gluttony.
- Coca-Cola created the red-coated, white bearded image of Santa Claus for an advertising campaign. Previously, Santa looked a bit more elf-like.
Eight Fun and Weird Facts About Christmas
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