Countdown to Christmas Day 2 Did You Know.... Christmas

America’s first recipe for Christmas cakes dates back to 1796.

In Australia, the turkey is eaten cold.

In the old times, sugar was very expensive; therefore, Christmas cakes were a luxury.

In Denmark, they put hot porridge outside for the pixies on Christmas Eve.

The first gingerbread man is credited to the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who favored important visitors with charming gingerbread likenesses of themselves.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth.

In Poland, Santa Claus gives gifts on the 6th of December.

Santa Claus is also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Kris Kringle.

In 1866, the artist, Thomas Nast, made a montage entitled, "Santa Claus and His Works" and for the first time established Santa as a maker of toys

It was Coca-Cola's magazine advertisements, billboards, and point-of-sale store displays that exposed nearly everyone in America to the modern Santa Claus image.

There is a distinction between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song. A Christmas Carol has a fairly rapid, regular beat, which would, therefore, exclude a meandering, crooning song such as “White Christmas”.

The world’s most famous Christmas carol is "Silent night".

“Jingle Bells” was originally named, “One-Horse Open Sleigh”, and was written for Thanksgiving, not for Christmas.

Charles Dickens’s story, "A Christmas Carol", is the world’s most read Christmas story.

In 2003, the Austrian Trade Union Federation, representing 100,000 workers, claimed that the non-stop playing of Christmas carols in shopping malls was "psychological terror".