Did You Know ... ? Christmas Edition

We know that there were three wise men, 12 days of Christmas and that Santa delivers all his presents around the world in one night. But did you know ...

$23,439.38 — How much it would cost to buy your "true love" all the gifts — a total of 364 presents — in "The Twelve Day of Christmas." And actually, the “true love” mentioned in the song does not refer to a romantic couple, but the Catholic Church’s code for God. The person who receives the gifts represents someone who has accepted that code. For example, the “partridge in a pear tree” represents Christ. The “two turtledoves” represent the Old and New Testaments.c

12.9 billion hours, $447 billion — How many hours Americans were expected to spend shopping, wrapping and returning gifts last year. That was about 42 hours and $688.87 per person. 

Cards, cards, cards — According to Hallmark, Christmas is the largest card-sending occasion. Nearly 1.5 billion cards are sent to friends and family every Christmas Season. That's actually down 400 million cards since 2004.

$983 million — The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from China between January and September 2011. China was the leading country of origin for such items. Similarly, China was the leading foreign source of artificial Christmas trees shipped to the United States — $79.7 million worth — during the same period.

Best-selling trees — The best-selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, balsam fir and white pine. The first decorated tree dates back to 1510 in Riga, Latvia.

Tree maturation — It takes the average Christmas tree seven to 10 years to mature.

White Christmas — According to Venere.com, the Irving Berlin song "White Christmas," performed by Bing Crosby and released in 1942, is the best-selling Christmas song of all time. The site also reports that 1 in 10 presents received at Christmas will be broken by 
the New Year. 

Insuring Santa — Lloyd's of London issued the first insurance policy to protect Santa Claus. The policy covers Santa until the 25th of December in the event of accident and illness, in the run up to and during his worldwide travels to deliver presents to good children.

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