* Winter was a time of celebration to pre-Christian Romans, and they decorated fir trees in honor of this seasonal change.

* The use of a Christmas wreath as a decoration on your front door, mantel or bay window, began its origin as a symbol of welcome and long life to all who enter.

* In 1836, Alabama is the first state in the USA to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

* The biggest selling Christmas single of all time is Bing Crosby's White Christmas.

* In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria.

* For every real Christmas tree harvested, 2 to 3 seedlings are planted in its place. Each hectare provides the daily oxygen requirements of 45 people.

* Epiphany, 6th January, is the traditional end of the Christmas holiday and is the date on which we take down the tree and decorations. To do so earlier is thought to bring bad luck for the rest of the year. From the middle ages until the mid-nineteenth century, Twelfth Night was more popular than Christmas day, and even today some countries celebrate Epiphany as the most important day of the Christmas season.

* Three years after Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in 1879, Edward H. Johnson, who worked for Edison's company, had Christmas tree bulbs especially made for him. He proudly displayed his electric tree lights at his home on Fifth Avenue, New York City. They caused a sensation although some years were to pass before mass-manufactured Christmas tree lights were widely available.

* In America in 1822, the postmaster of Washington, DC, complained that he had to add 16 mailmen at Christmas to deal with cards alone. He wanted the number of cards a person could send, limited by law. "I don't know what we'll do if this keeps on," he wrote.

~ author unknown ~