Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
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Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
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Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.
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7.6 million Christmas trees are sold each year.
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Robins on cards were a joke 150 years ago when postmen wore red tunics and were named after them.
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The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.
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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.
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