Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
196
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
113
The abbreviation Xmas isn't irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ.
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7.6 million Christmas trees are sold each year.
100
The world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.
82
The poinsettia is a traditional Christmas flower. In Mexico (its original birthplace), the poinsettia is known as the "Flower of the Holy Night".
15
Although now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.
14
Louis Prang, a Bavarian-born lithographer who came to the USA from Germany in the 19th century, popularized the sending of printed Christmas cards. He invented a way of reproducing color oil paintings
, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a car
, the "chromolithograph technique", and created a car
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