According to Mitch:
The average Briton devotes 15 hours a year to Christmas shopping – around 25 per cent of that time is spent in queues.
The Christmas song ‘Jingle Bells’ was originally composed in 1857 as a Thanksgiving song.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh send some 850 Christmas cards a year.
It’s St Francis of Assisi we have to thank for introducing Christmas carols to church services.
It wasn’t until 440 that 25 th December was first celebrated as the birthday of Christ.
Santa Claus is called Babbo Natale in Italy.
More than eight million Christmas trees were sold in Briton last year.
The reason why robins are associated with Christmas is because postmen, who wore red, were known as robins, and so many Christmas cards depicted robins delivering cards.
Holly is associated with Christmas because the sharply pointed leaves symbolized the thorns in Christ’s crown and the red berries symbolized his blood.
There are 178 legs in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
The Christmas holidays are the busiest time for American plastic surgeons.
Around 16 million turkeys were sold in the UK last Christmas.
And on that note of gluttony I wish you a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable festive season - the weekly news review with return in 2010.
