Fun Christmas Facts

• Christmas means Christ Mass and is about celebrating the birth of Jesus
• Christmas stockings were first used in 1870
• An old wives tale says that bread baked on Christmas eve doesn't get moldy!
• At midnight it is said that a special rose opens and closes its petals to salut Jesus' Birth
• All the sheep in the fields face East at midnight, well maybe!
• In the UK certain towns have Christmas day swims in ice cold water in costumes!
• The First Christmas stamp was issued in Austria in 1937
• The first Christmas tree dates back to 1510 in Latvia
• The first candy cane was given in Cologne in 1670 when the Choir master of the Cathedral bent the candy to look like a shepherds staff!
• The first recording of Christmas being celebrated on Dec 25th was in Rome in 336AD although we don't really know the exact day Jesus was born.
• The turkey was introduced to the UK by William Strickland in Bristol in 1526 when he imported 6 birds from America, the Indians were particularly fond of this bird. King Henry XIII was the first king to have it at christmas. After the meal a long y shaped bone of the turkey will be pulled apart and the person who gets the biggest part can make a wish!

Whatever you are eating or doing this Christmas, make it a tradition of good food, family time and laughter, a time to be thankful and to remember Christs birth and love for us.

Sources:

1. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/eve.html
2. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1BgTSV/blog.brillianttrips.com/2008/12/top-10-christmas-facts-from-around-the-globe//r:t