Ezra Home Care: 15 Fun Facts About Christmas

1. The first United States President to decorate the White House Christmas tree was Franklin Pierce.

2. Santa Clause gets his origins from St. Nicholas a generous man from the 4th Century A.D. who helped children and the poor and often threw gifts threw children's windows to make them happy. The story was brought to America by Dutch immigrants who called the man "Sinter Klaas."

3. Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

4. In 1843, "A Christmas Carol" was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.

5. During the Christmas buying season, Visa Cards alone are used an average of 5, 340 times every minute in the U.S.

6. More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.

7. Coca Cola was the first beverage company to use Santa Clause for a winter promotion. 

8. If you received all of the gifts listed in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song, you would receive 364 presents. 

9. The U.S.'s official national Christmas Tree is located in King's Canyon National Park in California-- a giant sequoia over 300 feet high nicknamed the "General Grant Tree."

10. Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.

11. The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama.

12. Mistletoe was chosen as Oklahoma's state flower in 1893 and later changed to the state floral emblem.

13. "Jingle Bells" was first written for Thanksgiving but later became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

14. Christmas trees are edible. The needles on pines, spruces and firs are actually a good source of Vitamin C and the pine cones are a good source of nutrition. So forget about the orange juice and go munch on your Christmas tree.

15. Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees. They were made of goose feathers and dyed green.