YUM YUM Many people, including diners at the world’s best restaurant, Noma, eat Christmas trees – apparently the freeze dried needles have a delicious citrusy tang. You can grind up dry needles and use as a garnish for soup or infuse them to make tea. You can also rub the needles into chicken, game or fish. Pine needles are high in Vitamin C (as much as five times that of lemons), Vitamin A and many other useful compounds (including potent anti-aging ones). Russian studies show pine oils are useful for weight control and lower cholesterol and blood pressure, while Chinese studies find they slow the growth of liver cancer.

OLDEST CHRISTMAS TREE  Every year, Janet Parker of Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK, puts up her 12″ Christmas tree, which was purchased – possibly from Woolworths –  for her Great Aunt in 1886.

 

 

 

 

SIGN OF THE TIMES Only 36 out of 6576 cards sold in major supermarkets last year featured traditional nativity scenes.

 

 

 

 

 

THE WORD ‘CHRISTMAS’ comes from the Old English “Cristes maesse” meaning “Christ’s Mass”.

 

 

 

 

 

OVEREATING The average person consumes 6000 – 8000 calories on Christmas Day.

 

 

XMAS The abbreviation of Christmas to Xmas (sorry Ellie, I know you dislike it) is derived from Chi, the first letter of Christ’s name, which in the Greek alphabet is written as ‘X’.

 

 

 

 

SPEEDY SANTA We all know that Santa has magical powers, but researchers have calculated that in order to deliver all of his presents on Christmas Eve Santa would need to travel at 650 miles per second and visit 822 homes a second.

 

 

 

RUDOLPH, yes the one with the luminous red hooter, was created by Robert L. May in 1939 as an assignment for an American retailer’s Christmas colouring books which they gave away to customers every Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOLLY  in a wreath symbolises Christ’s crown of thorns and the red berries are drops of his blood.

 

 

 

 

NO LIKEY, NO KEEPY Last year we spent £594 million on unwanted Christmas gifts which people were very quick to get rid of – 1.5 million new items for sale were listed on eBay on Boxing Day 2011.