Popular belief holds that 3 wise men visited Bethlehem from the east bearing gifts. However there is no mention in the bible about the number of wise men who visited. Three gifts were brought - gold, frankincense and myrrh, but names commonly attributed t
101
The Queen's Christmas speech was first televised in 1957.
18
Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life.
33
There are 13 Santas in Iceland, each leaving a gift for children. They come down from the mountain one by one, starting on December 12 and have names like Spoon Licker, Door Sniffer and Meat Hook.
191
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.
415
Gold-wrapped chocolate coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor.
196
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
The world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.
82