The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.
42
The world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.
82
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
113
Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.
62
The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." There is no set date for his birth in scripture and it wasn't celebrated on any particular day. However Christmas was first celebrated on the 25th of December in Rome in 336AD with an aim t
16
In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck! There once lived a woman so poor, says a Ukrainian folk tale, that she could not afford Christmas decorations for her family. One Ch
26
Black Friday in the UK is the Friday before Christmas. Instead of shopping, many people get very drunk!
10
The definition of a white Christmas in the UK is for a single snow flake (perhaps amongst a shower of mixed rain and snow) to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25th.
32