Christmas Traditions and Origins

1. The tradition of putting tangerines in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor.
2. The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by civil servant Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843. Featuring a family drinking wine, one sold for £8,469 in 2014.
3. The Christmas cracker was invented by a London sweet shop owner called Tom Smith. In 1847, after spotting French bonbons wrapped in paper with a twist at each end, he sold similar sweets with a “love motto” inside. He then included a little trinket and a “bang”. His “Bangs of Expectation” included gifts such as jewellery and miniature dolls. By 1900, he was selling 13 million a year.
4. Holly and Ivy have been used to decorate homes since the 9th century because they symbolise everlasting life. The holly represents Christ’s crown of thorns and the berries his blood.
5. US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world’s presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.
6. The chances of a White Christmas are just 1 in 10 for England and Wales, and 1 in 6 for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
7. According to Matalan, 82% of people surveyed own a Christmas jumper, with 25-34 year olds the most likely to buy one. Over 75% of people buy their festive jumper to wear for a work event, whilst over half wear one on Christmas Day.
8. For a Christmas to be officially classified as “white” a single snow flake needs to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25th December on the rooftop of the Met Office HQ in London.
9. During the 20th century there were only seven official white Christmases in the United Kingdom. The chances of a White Christmas in London this year? 6%.
10. Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they’re sold.
11. The bestselling Christmas single ever is Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, shifting over 50 million copies worldwide since 1942.
12. The Beatles hold the record for most Christmas number 1 singles with FOUR, topping the charts in 1963, 64, 65 and 67. Cliff Richard (1960, 1988 and 1990) and The Spice Girls (1996, 1997 and 1998) have three each. 
13. Who earns the most royalties from their Christmas songs? Well, Mariah Carey makes about £375,000 per year from All I Want For Christmas and the Pogues make about £400,000 from Fairytale of New York. But top of the tree are Slade, who are reckoned to earn £500,000 per year from Merry Christmas Everybody,
14. Brits love Christmas – UK Christmas spending hit £77.56bn in 2016, up by 1.9% on the previous year and almost double the European average.
15. The average home will splash out £809.97 at Christmas; on food and drink, travel, decorations and presents, with the latter accounting for 58.5 per cent of the budget.
16. During the Christmas period, nearly 28 Lego sets are sold EVERY SECOND.
17. The most expensively dressed Christmas tree was valued at just under £7,000,000 and was erected and displayed by the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from 16 to 29 December 2010.
18. The most lights lit simultaneously on a Christmas tree is 194,672 and was achieved by Kiwanis Malmedy and Haute Fagnes in Malmedy, Belgium, on 10 December 2010.
19. Santa Claus has different names around the world - Kriss Kringle in Germany, Le Befana in Italy, Pere Noel in France and Deushka Moroz (Grandfather Frost) in Russia.
20. Japanese people traditionally eat at KFC for Christmas dinner, thanks to a successful marketing campaign 40 years ago. KFC is so popular that customers must place their Christmas orders 2 months in advance. 
21. According to research carried out by Jarlsberg cheese (of all things), the strain of cooking the big Christmas dinner sees the average Brit start to sip their first alcoholic drink at 11.48am.
22. The average Brit consumes around 7,000 calories on Christmas day, and you’ll reach your recommended daily allowance at about 2pm.
23. The UK Brussels Sprouts industry (and yes, it’s Brussels sprout, not brussel sprout) is worth £650 million, and the area of the country covered by Brussels Sprouts fields is the equivalent to 3,240 football pitches.
24. The total amount spent on Christmas puddings by the UK is £48,000,000.
25. Christmas pudding was originally a soup made with raisins and wine.
26. In Victorian times, in a reversal of modern UK tradition, turkey was seen as an expensive meat to eat on Christmas day, and goose was often eaten by poorer families. In A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchitt was planning to have goose before Ebenezer Scrooge surprised him with the prize turkey.
27. 10 million - The number of Turkeys cooked in the UK every Christmas.
28. 6 million - The number of rolls of sellotape that will be sold in the UK in the run up to Christmas (5.99 million - the number of rolls where you can’t find where the tape ends).
29. 957 - The typical number of calories in your average Christmas dinner.
30. 230,000 tonnes - The amount of wasted Christmas food that is thrown away each year.
31. £700 million - The amount of money spent on unwanted Christmas gifts.
32. 30,000 - The number of participants in the largest ever Secret Santa, organised by Reddit in 2012.
33. 8 million natural Christmas trees are consumed by the UK each year. In the UK, natural Christmas trees outsell artificial Christmas trees by a ratio of 3:1.

Source: https://www.tomango.co.uk/thinks/30-fun-facts-about-christmas-to-impress-your-friends/