15 Facts You Didn't Know About Christmas

Each year more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the U.S. alone.

The day we celebrate, December 25, was the same time as the ancient pagan festival Saturnalia, celebrating the god Saturn.

Germans are thought to have been the first to use evergreen trees to celebrate the holiday.

The tree itself didn't become popular in the US till the 1800s, during Victorian times.

At one point in the 1600s, celebrating Christmas in Boston was illegal!

Silent Night is the most recorded Christmas song in history.

The classic way Santa looks today was developed during an 1804 meeting of the New York Historical Society.

Christmas trees usually grow about 15 years before being sold.

Christmas wasn't declared an official holiday in the U.S. till 1870.

President Calvin Coolidge originated the White House tree lighting ceremony in 1923.

It's thought that White Christmas may be the best-selling song of all time.

The first U.S. Christmas postage stamp was issued in 1962.

A British illustrator named John Callcott Horsley is said to have invented Christmas cards in 1843.

Despite their lovely color, holly berries are actually poisonous!

The gifts listed in The Twelve Days of Christmas, in total, would be 364 presents!