The holiday season is here & it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Let’s get into the Christmas spirit with these fun facts about Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! Celebrated by over 2 billion people worldwide, Christmas is a time to celebrate with family and friends, eat a ton of delicious food, and even receive a gift or two!
Christmas brings to mind classic holiday traditions such as Christmas carols, Santa Claus, and lighting the Christmas tree, but there is so much more to discover about this most festive holiday.
With these fun facts about Christmas we’ll take a trip around the world to discover some seriously wacky holiday traditions! We’ll also take a step back in time to uncover the origins of Christmas, the Christmas tree and Santa Claus.
And what do spider webs have to do with Christmas? Or Kentucky Fried Chicken? Or setting fire to a gigantic straw goat? We’re about to boggle your mind with some incredible Christmas facts that will really amaze you.
Eggnog, the Grinch, Krampus, mistletoe… and the Christmas witch? You’ll have to keep reading to find out what she’s all about!
Christmas is about bringing people together in happiness and joy, and we need more of that in the world.
So let’s learn a little bit more about Christmas together, shall we?
35 Fun Facts About Christmas
1. One big tree
The tallest Christmas tree ever erected was a 221 foot (67 m) Douglas fir. The tree was displayed in downtown Seattle in 1950 and cost $19,000 at the time. We gotta ask: How did they get the star on the top?
2. Where does Santa get his mail?
Need to get in touch with Santa? In Canada, Santa Claus has his own postal code, HOH OHO. In fact, over 1 million children in Canada send Santa their Christmas wishes by mail every year.
3. Merry Binge-mas
A study found that the average American costumes 7,000 calories on Christmas Day. A whopping 3 times the recommended daily intake. You definitely want to be wearing your stretchy pants on December 25th!
4. Thanks, I guess
According to a 2014 survey by Rakuten, 75% of Americans didn’t like the Christmas gifts they received. And what to do with those unwanted gifts? 33% regifted, 27% donated, 14% sold. But it’s the thought that counts, right?
5. Baby Claus
Here’s one of the Xmas facts that surprised us. In many Latin countries children don’t receive gifts from Santa Claus. Instead, their presents are from the baby Jesus himself! Thanks baby Jesus!
6. Kentucky Fried Christmas
In Japan, the most common Christmas Eve food is fried chicken. And it’s all thanks to a marketing strategy from KFC. In fact, KFC records its highest sales on Christmas Eve than any other day of the year in Japan.
7. Scorching Christmas
Since Australia is in the Southern hemisphere, December 25th is in the middle of the summer and one of the hottest days of the year. Aussie Christmas traditions include going to the beach and barbecuing. Why are we picturing Santa Claus on a surfboard?
8. Must be the Christmas cheer
The most common month for babies to be born is September. And nine months before September is the middle of holiday season. It’s no surprise as the last couple weeks of December are when people feel the happiest and most… festive.
9. Who is the real Santa Claus?
This was one of the fun facts about Christmas that genuinely shocked us. Santa wasn’t depicted as fat, jolly and with a white beard, until Coca-Cola commissioned an artist to reimagine Santa’s image in 1931. How cheeky is that!? We want skinny Santa back!
10. The opposite of Santa Claus
In German folklore, Krampus is a terrifying alternative to Santa Claus. Krampus, a goat-like figure with cloven hooves, is said to abduct naughty children and deliver them straight to hell. Okay, that’s way creepier than: “He sees you when you’re sleeping.”
11. Up in flames
Julbock the Christmas goat is one of the weirdest Christmas traditions. In a small Swedish town, people gather around an enormous goat made of straw and set it on fire on Christmas Day. The goat is remade every year just to suffer the same fiery fate.
12. Comedy vs Horror
Bob Clark is recognized as one of the greatest directors of Christmas films. And his two most famous features couldn’t be more different.
There’s A Christmas Story, the classic comedy that’s unavoidable on TV during the holidays. Then there’s Black Christmas, the gory and violent slasher horror.
13. Relationship status: Single
According to a Facebook study, Christmas Day is the least likely day for couples to break up. They found the most common day to break up was December 11th, two weeks before Christmas. I guess it gets you off the hook for buying presents!
14. The abominable snowman
The tallest snowman ever built was in Bethel, Maine. The monster snowman measured 122 ft (37 m). Let’s just hope this snowman doesn’t come alive like Frosty and destroy the whole town!
15. Fast Santa
Some crafty mathematicians have done some calculations for Santa Claus. In order for Santa to hit every household in the world on Christmas Eve he’d have to travel at 3,000 times the speed of sound, hitting 800 homes per second.
16. Christmas and spider webs
No, we’re not talking about Halloween. It’s believed in the Ukraine that preserving spider webs during the holidays will lead to wealth and fortune in the new year. And it’s a Ukrainian tradition to have spider web ornaments adorning the Christmas tree.
17. Give me a kiss
Have you ever been kissed under the mistletoe? This Christmas tradition dates back to the Druids in the 1st Century AD. Mistletoe is known to bloom in the winter and symbolizes love and fertility.
18. India Christmas facts
The lack of pine trees in India means that mango and banana trees are decorated instead. Indians also love the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. Also, there is a town in India called Santa Claus!
19. Four-legged Christmas
What will you be getting your kitty or pooch this year? 50% of pet owners give gifts to their furry friends on Christmas day. In fact, the average amount Americans spend is $46 per pet!
20. The first Christmas trees
It was the Germans in the 16th century that first introduced the idea of decorating trees. Back then, trees were adorned with fruits and nuts. Soon after, ornaments began to include paper cutouts and candles.
21. Christmas tree gifts
Every year Norway gifts a Christmas tree to London to thank them for their support during World War II. Halifax in Nova Scotia gives Boston a Christmas tree each year in thanks for help during the Halifax Explosion (1917).
22. The Christmas witch
Here’s one of the spookiest Christmas trivia facts we came across. In Italy, La Befana, or the Christmas Witch, flies over the country on her broomstick. But don’t fear! La Befana is a friendly witch who is there to deliver presents!
23. The Yule lads
In Iceland, children leave their empty shoes out on Christmas Eve. A group of 13 trolls called the Yule lads, will come in the night to fill the shoes. If the kids have been good they receive candy. If they’ve been naughty they get a rotten potato!
24. Santa’s reindeer
Here’s a question for you: Do you think Santa’s reindeer are male or female? There is actually quite a debate online about this!
The majority of people point out that male reindeer lose their antlers by December, so the ones pulling Santa’s sleigh must be female!
25. Here comes Santa Claus!
One thing we love about the holiday season is the Santa Claus parade. People line the cold streets with mugs of hot chocolate to greet Santa and usher in the start of Christmas. The oldest Santa Claus parade ever is held in Peoria, Illinois first started in 1888!
26. Upbeat Christmas carol
One of the classic Christmas songs Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree was recorded in 1958 by Brenda Lee when she was only 13 years old. The song has since been covered by Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. We’re still dancing to this song today!
27. X marks the spot
Here’s another one of those fun facts about Christmas that totally surprised us. The X in X-mas actually represents the Greek letter Chi, which means Christ in Greek. Did any of you know about this little bit of Christmas trivia?
28. Traditional Christmas drink
The first eggnog was made in medieval England from a mixture of spices, curdled milk and ale. The drink known as posset would eventually become the eggnog we know today when egg was added to the mixture. Cheers!
29. Christmas blockbuster
The highest grossing Christmas movie of all time is How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). The remake of the original cartoon, starred Jim Carrey and pulled in over $260 million at the box office.
30. Jingle all the way to space
Believe it or not, Jingle Bells was the first song ever played in space. The crew of NASA’s Gemini 6A got into the Christmas spirit by blasting the song in 1965.
31. Bling tree
A Christmas tree in the Kempinski Hotel Bahia in Spain is said to be the most expensive Christmas tree ever. Adorned with diamonds, jewelry, and bottles of perfume, the tree’s value is over $15 million.
32. Happy and merry
Did you know It used to be more common to say Happy Christmas? It wasn’t until Charles Dickens published his much-loved novel, A Christmas Carol, that Merry Christmas became the standard holiday greeting.
33. Christmas is expensive!
According to a 2021 Gallup poll, the average American was expected to spend $837 on Christmas gifts. This number has actually decreased in recent years. In the early 2000s the average was almost $1,000.
34. The largest Christmas gift
The Statue of Liberty was actually a Christmas present given to the United States by France in 1886. The 150 feet, 225 ton statue now stands proudly off the coast of New York City welcoming people to its shores.
35. Spreading Christmas joy
Here’s one of the more astonishing fun facts about Christmas to finish off our Christmas journey. In the United States alone, over 1.6 billion Christmas cards are sent out each year. Now that puts us in the Christmas spirit!
Who wants more fun facts?
If you’re looking for some recommendations, these are a few of our favorite fact books to buy. We use these when planning fun trivia nights with family and friends!
Did these Christmas facts get you into the holiday spirit? Don’t forget you can share your favorite Christmas trivia facts and holiday memories in the comments below!
