Fun Christmas facts are something most people may not be interested in this time of year. You have so much on your plate, why be bothered with a bunch of holiday trivia? However, Al & the gang at Capone’s have witnessed a few mugs that could have used a little knowledge when hanging around certain crowds.

Holiday parties are very popular this time of year as businesses celebrate another year’s end. Families and friends also gather to visit and exchange gifts. Meals are consumed and toasts are made. Then what?

If you are at an office party, you might meander trying to strike up a conversation with the co-worker from down the hall. At a family reunion, you might sit next to an uncle you just never have anything to talk to about. Did you ever wish you could just blurt out something to get the conversation going?

Here are some fun Christmas facts that you may or may not know. If you remember a few, you can always strike up a conversation using one of these facts. Who knows, you might even impress the boss or that uncle!

Remember, one of the fun Christmas facts is that Capone’s Dinner & Show is a great place to have your office party. It is also a great place for friends and families to gather for reunions. Since we’ll be doing all of the entertaining, you won’t get stuck trying to keep the conversation going. You also won’t get stuck doing the dishes!!

Fun Christmas Facts:

• Electric tree lights were invented by Edward Johnson in the US in 1882.
• The bestselling Christmas single ever is Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, shifting over 50million copies worldwide since 1942.
• In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world’s biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall.
• James Pierpont’s 1857 song Jingle Bells was first called One Horse Open Sleigh and was written for Thanksgiving.
• The world’s tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.
• The word Noel derives from the French expression “les bonnes nouvelles” or “the good news.”
• US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world’s presents on Christmas Eve, traveling at 650 miles a second.
• The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.
• When Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, people did not know what Christmas trees were, so he had to explain it.
• There are two competing claims as to which president was the first to place a Christmas tree in the White House. Some scholars say President Franklin Pierce did in 1856; others say President Benjamin Harrison brought in the first tree in 1889. President Coolidge started the White House lighting ceremony in 1923.
• Teddy Roosevelt banned the Christmas tree from the White House for environmental reasons.
• The official Christmas tree tradition at Rockefeller Center began in 1933. Since 2004 the tree has been topped with a 550-pound Swarovski Crystal star. And since 2007, the tree has been lit with 30,000 energy-efficient LED’s which are powered by solar panels.

More Fun Facts:

• 98 percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms, while only 2% are cut from the wild.
• 10.9 million artificial trees were purchased in the United States in 2012.
• In 1962, the first Christmas postage stamp was issued in the United States.
• Alabama was the first state in the United States to officially recognize Christmas in 1836. Oklahoma was the last U.S. state to declare Christmas a legal holiday, in 1907.
• There are two islands named Christmas.  Christmas Island (formerly Kiritimati) in the Pacific Ocean and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
• There are 3 towns in the US that are named Santa Claus. One in Georgia, one in Arizona and one in Indiana.
• Each year more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the U.S. alone.
• Christmas purchases account for 1/6 of all retail sales in the U.S.
• All the gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas would equal 364 gifts.
• The tradition of naughty children getting a lump of coal in their stocking comes from Italy.
• Gary Dahl from California sold 5 million Pet Rocks in the USA in the Christmas season of 1975.
• The Slinky was the most popular toy sold in Britain at Christmas 1953.

So there you have it. Some fun Christmas facts to help strike up an interesting conversation! Just be sure to tell everyone that the wise guys at Capone’s Dinner & Show are the ones that have shared these facts with you. We hope it makes your holidays a little wiser!