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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The abbreviation Xmas isn't irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ.
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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 twelve days of Christmas are the days between Christmas Day and Epiphany (6th of January) and represent the length of time it took for the wise men from the East to visit the manger of Jesus after his birth.
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Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
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Santa Claus has many different names around the world including Father Christmas in the UK, Pere Noel in France, Kriss Kringle in Germany, La Befana in Italy, Julinesse in Denmark, Dedushka Moroz (meaning Grandfather Frost) in Russia and the Three Kings i
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Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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