What would Friday be without a few fun facts?  Here are a few random and fun facts about Christmas you might not know…

• The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ’s Mass.
• The first president to decorate the white house Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce.
• Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees. They were made of goose feathers and dyed green.
• Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.
• “It’s a Wonderful Life” appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.
• The Nutcracker” is the most famous Christmas ballet.
• Jingle Bells” was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs.\If you received all of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” you would receive 364 gifts.
• The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800’s.
• Holly berries are poisonous.
• In 1843, “A Christmas Carol” was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.
• The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama.
• Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.
• Clearing up a common misconception, in Greek, X (letter “chi”) is shorthand for Christ. That is where the word “X-Mas” comes from. Not because someone took the “Christ” out of Christmas.
• Traditionally, Christmas trees are taken down after Epiphany (January 6 or the closest Sunday to that date)
• More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.
• The world’s largest Christmas wreath, as designated by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1988, was 116 feet in diameter and weighed 9060 pounds. It was constructed at the Clemonsville Christmas Tree Farm in Maryland and made from fresh evergreens on an oak framework.

Merry Christmas!  Messiah has come!