Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
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US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.
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The world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.
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Frumenty was a spiced porridge, enjoyed by both rich and poor. It was a forerunner of modern Christmas puddings. It is linked in legend to the Celtic god Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all the good things of the earth.
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Christmas trees become popular in the UK from 1841 when Prince Albert erected a tree in Windsor Castle following a German tradition. Fir trees have been decorated at Christmas time in Germany since the 8th century.
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The sun sets on 24 December at 3.55pm in the UK, and rises the following morning at 8.05am.
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Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
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