Christmas is an annual Christian holiday held on December 25th celebrating the birth of Jesus.◾Christmas trees are also known as the Yule-tree.◾Christmas trees are evergreen trees, usually either a fir tree, pine tree or spruce tree.◾It is believed that decorating Christmas trees originated in 16th century Germany when Christians would bring decorated trees into their homes.◾Some people say the Christmas season officially begins when Santa arrives at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.◾Did you ever wonder where X-Mas came from? X means Christ in Greek so to shorten the word Christmas we sometimes use X-Mas.◾In 1836 Alabama became the first state in the US to declare Christmas a legal holiday. ◾Oklahoma became the last state to declare Christmas a legal holiday in 1907.◾In June of 1870 Christmas became a federal holiday in the US.◾Christmas trees were first decorated with foods such as apples, nuts and dates.◾In the 18th century Christmas trees began being decorated with candles. ◾Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895.◾Did you know that giving presents were once banned by the Catholic Church. It was believed that gift giving was connected to paganism.◾If you received all the gifts from the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” you would have 364 presents.◾Do you know why we say the Twelve Days of Christmas? It is believed that it took the 3 kings 12 days to find baby Jesus.◾The song Jingle Bells was written by James Pierpont in 1857. It was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh” and was made for Thanksgiving.◾Many years ago in England a traditional Christmas dinner included a pig head served with mustard.◾The tradition of naughty children getting a lump of coal in their stocking comes from Italy.◾Did you know that tinsel was once made of real silver! It was invented in Germany in 1610.◾There are two islands named Christmas. Christmas Island (formerly Kiritimati) in the Pacific Ocean and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.◾The tallest Christmas tree ever displayed was in Seattle Washington in 1950. The Christmas tree was 221 feet tall!◾It is said that candy canes were invented by a candy maker in Indiana. He wanted to use them to spread the name Jesus around the world.◾Santa Claus is also known as St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Grandfather Frost and Kris Kringle. Click Here for more Santa Claus Facts!◾Santa is believed to bring gifts to good girls and boys on the night before Christmas (December 24th).◾There are 3 towns in the Us that are named Santa Claus. One in Georgia, one in Arizona and one in Indiana.◾Santa Claus 8 eight reindeer are named: Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donder Blitzen.◾To know more Reindeer facts click hereClick here for more Christmas Activities for Kids