Eleven Fun Christmas Facts For Small Talk at Parties

Break the ice at your next holiday event by throwing one of these little gems into conversation.

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding one of the most widely celebrated winter holidays. Many people are unaware of the stories behind well-loved traditions, films, and carols. If you’re looking for something to break the ice at the corporate Christmas party, or a topic to change the subject from politics at your grandma’s Christmas dinner, here are some tidbits of trivia to get you started.

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• The first Christmas tree in the United States was purchased as a gift for President Martin van Buren by his chief of staff Oliver Stanford. Van Buren was reportedly disgusted with the idea of a fir tree in his parlor and subjected his manservant Joseph Polmondeley to a colorful rant on the subject. (Polmondeley later wrote the 19th-century equivalent of a tell-all memoir about his career with van Buren, and the Christmas tree anecdote made the book an 1859 bestseller.)

• Eggnog was invented in Morocco sometime around the year 1200, as an alternative festive drink for children who became too excitable when given coffee. The original recipe contained no alcohol, and was (mercifully) served hot, a practice that probably prevented many illnesses from spoiled milk.

• In 2024 there are eleven cities in the world named Bethlehem, a number corresponding with Jesus’ twelve apostles (minus Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus).

• Sir Alec Guinness was asked to play the part of Duncan the toymaker in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” but declined the role and reportedly asked director John Hughes, “what do you think the word ‘retirement’ means, sirrah?”

• “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” a song still popular with carolers today, was written by Julia Lattimer McCluskey in 1910 to advertise McCluskey’s Figgy Puddings. McCluskey’s went out of business in 1914, but their jingle remained in the public consciousness.

• Charles Dickens wrote his classic “A Christmas Carol” in just three days, and later in life regretted the speed of his slapdash project despite its wild success. “Had I reason to publish it again,” he wrote to his friend Henry Mayhew in 1865, “I should have expanded it to a full novel, and recounted Scrooge’s early days with more care and less haste. I think he had the makings of a hero every bit as fascinating as Mr. Pip or Mr. Copperfield, with a little more work and consideration, but the world shall never know it.”

• When you think of Santa Claus today, you likely envision a jolly, portly bearded man dressed in red. But early illustrations for Clement C. Moore’s poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” showed Santa in a slim green bodysuit with fairy wings. Moore did not care for this version of his character and fired the illustrator, Cornelius Fromp, after Fromp refused to redo his paintings. Fromp later sold his artwork, of which he was very proud, to a postcard manufacturer who rebranded Fromp’s version of Santa as a “swampland Elf.”

• Many people think that the traditional candy cane is shaped like a shepherd’s crook in reference to Jesus as the Good Shepherd, but it is actually meant to be a lowercase “r” in honor of the inventor’s daughter Rebecca.

• In the fifteenth century, when the legends of St. Nicholas were first gaining popularity in Europe, the saint was said to ride on a camel train to deliver gifts to good children, rather than the reindeer associated with Santa Claus today.

• Before Valentine’s Day became a symbol of romantic love in Western culture, Christmas Day was considered the most romantic day of the year. Victorian couples exchanged small pincushions stuffed with orange peels as declarations of their love on Christmas morning. If a young lady received a pincushion from a young man she did not fancy, she could let him know of her indifference by sending him a jug of curdled milk.

• “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by Frank Loesser and Lynn Garland is now regarded as a playful romantic duet, but was originally written in 1944 to subtly inform Loesser and Garland’s guests that it was time to leave their housewarming party.

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Only one of the above facts is true.

But unless you are among the most astute of readers (and if so, congratulations! You’ve already made it to the end of this piece, a feat not so widely performed as it ought to be!) you might not have picked up on the sheer folderol of everything I just told you, because you are probably extremely accustomed to reading fake history and disputable “fun facts” on the Internet.

Anyone can write anything online and sound reasonably convincing, sure of themselves, and eager to tell you what “they” are keeping from you. Most of us want to believe we’re being let in on a little-known secret that others are not privy to. But that doesn’t make every “fun” fact factual, nor even “fun” when you think about it.

This has been an experiment in Internet fake news for a project I am completing in a communications course. If you were taken in by this article, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d leave a comment and let me know! I’m gathering as much data as I can for this project but will keep all responses anonymous. (Also — can you guess which of these facts is the bona fide one?)

Thanks for reading, and please don’t let this experiment in deception scare you off! I am usually very meticulous about citing my sources (and actually using sources). I did pieces like this for April Fool’s Day in 2022 and 2021 as well, but 99% of my other writing is honest and sincere.

I’m not going to lie, though — writing made-up tomfoolery is pretty entertaining.