1/12 - The word Christmas is originated from the words “Christ's” and “Mass”. Christmas was first celebrated on the 25th December 336AD in Rome with an aim to replace the popular pagan winter solstice celebrations.

2/12 - Edward Johnson is believed to be the first person ever to hand-wired 80 red, white and blue hand-blown light bulbs and hung them on a real Christmas tree. The time was 1882, just three years after the incandescent light bulb was invented.

3/12 - Jingle Bells was initially written for Thanksgiving before it become one of the most popular Christmas songs.

4/12 - There is exactly 364 Christmas presents mentioned throughout the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

5/12 -The book "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens was written in just six weeks and was published on 19th December 1843.

6/12 - Christmas was officially recognized as a state holiday in Alabama, in year 1836.

7/12 - Christmas became a national holiday in America on 26th June 1870.

8/12 - Coca Cola was the first beverage company to use Santa for a winter promotion. The ad features Santa Claus raiding a refrigerator, waving at a flying toy helicopter while playing with a toy train, relaxing in a chair with reindeer nearby, engaging excited children and beloved family pets and eviewing his famous list of "good boys and girls".

9/12 - Since the mid 16th century, the letter X has been use to represent Christ among the Greek community (similar to the use of X in Roman letter). Xmas is therefore an abbreviation for Christmas, instead of the common misconception that Xmas was used to remove the “Christ” off Christmas.

10/12 - Traditionally, Christmas trees are only taken down after Epiphany (January 6 ).

11/12 - Santa Claus is also known as Father Christmas in UK, Pere Noel in France, Saint Nikolaus in Germany, Babbo Natale in Italy, Julemanden in Denmark, Ded Moroz in Russia, Papá Noel in Spain and many others.

12/12 - Boxing day is named after a common practice of opening alms boxes in churches after Christmas day and distributing its collection to the poor. In the United Kingdom, this practice was extended to giving boxes of presents to servants and workers. Boxing day is NOT named after the practice of throwing away empty boxes after the Christmas celebration.

13/12 - Oliver Cromwell, a strong Puritan English leader once banned Christmas during the 17th century (from 1647 to 1660) because he thought that Christmas should be a very solemn day. He banned carols and parties and only allowed prayer services to be carried out.

14/12 - Christmas trees became a popular Christmas icon in the UK when Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert brought a Christmas tree over from Germany and put it in the Windsor Castle in 1841. Illustrations of the Royal family standing around their Christmas tree were published in the newspaper and the Christmas tree tradition began soon after.

15/12 - The Christmas tree displayed in Trafalgar Square, London is actually an annual gift from Oslo, Norway to the UK since 1947. The tree is meant as a token of gratitude for British support to their country during the World War II.

16/12 - Christmas caroling began as an old English custom called Wassailing, wishing friends and neighbors a healthy life.

17/12 - The largest functional Christmas cracker was made in Australia and pulled at a local shopping mall on December 16, 1998. The cracker was measured at 55.45m (181 ft 11 in) long and 3.6m (11 ft 9 in) in diameter.

18/12 - Even if it's believed the Friday after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) is the busiest shopping day of the year, the Friday and Saturday before Christmas are actually the two busiest shopping days of the year.

19/12 - Christmas trees are edible. The needles on pines, spruces, cones and firs are actually a good source of nutrition. White pine needles have been tested for nutritional benefits, and they have a good amount of vitamin A and about 5 times as much vitamin C as compared to lemons.

20/12 - It is estimated that during the Christmas buying season, Visa Cards alone are used on an average 5,340 times every minute in the U.S.

21/12 - In India, mango and banana trees are used for Christmas instead of pine trees.

22/12 - The song “Silent Night” was apparently written when the church organ was no longer working. The writer Reverend Joseph Mohr and composer Franz Xaver Grube created another song which can be accompanied by a guitar and the rest was history.

23/12 - 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.

24/12 - Towns named on Christmas or related traditions in United States are Santa Claus in Arizona & Indiana, Noel in Missouri and Christmas in Arizona & Florida.

25/12 - Priests in Australia would advise you to say "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas" because Merry has connotations of getting drunk.