MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

· New York's Empire State Building lights are turned off at midnight with the exception of New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Patrick's Day, when they are illuminated until 3 a.m.
· Christmas became a national holiday in America on June 26, 1870. The first president to decorate the White House Christmas tree was Franklin Pierce.
· Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees: with goose feathers dyed green.
· Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.
· Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine cones are also a good source of nutrition.
· During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards are used 5,340 times every minute in the U.S.
· "Jingle Bells" was first written for Thanksgiving.
· Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the founding of the company. More than three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the U.S.
· More diamonds are purchased at Christmas-time (31%) than any other holiday or occasion during the year.
· A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.
· Contrary to common belief, poinsettia plants are non-toxic. They originally grew in Mexico, known as the "Flower of the Holy Night" and were brought to America by Joel Poinsett in 1829.
· Although many believe the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is the fifth to tenth busiest day. The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the two busiest shopping days of the year.
· "It's A Wonderful Life" appears on TV more than any holiday movie (royalty-free).
· Historians have traced current traditions surrounding Father Christmas or Santa Claus back to ancient Celtic roots. Father Christmas' elves are the modernization of the "Nature folk" of the Pagan religions; his reindeer are associated with the "Horned God," which was one of the Pagan deities.
· If you received all of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," you would be overwhelmed with 364 presents.