TRIVIA: An estimated 85% of American kids believe in Santa Claus.
That’s according to thepioneerwoman.com/, which also reported the average age when children stop believing is eight, according to the 2018 international Exeter Santa Survey. Bonus fact: During the months of November and December, Santa receives around 32,000 letters daily from these believers!
The Friday and Saturday before Christmas are the busiest shopping days of the year.
Move over, Black Friday! According to recent statistics, the top ten busiest shopping days in the U.S. account for nearly half of all holiday retail traffic including the weekend before the big day. As for the entire holiday shopping season, the NRF estimates sales reached $936.3 billion in 2022.
Candy canes date back to 1670. According to History.com, the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany gave the red and white sugar sticks to young singers to keep them quiet during the Living Creche tradition on Christmas Eve.
Why does Santa live in the North Pole? The famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast established Santa’s official residence as the North Pole in several illustrations in the 1800s, according to NPR. At the time, there had recently been a series of expeditions to the Arctic, and the North Pole was thought of as a mythical, magical place.
“Xmas” isn’t a recent term. The word actually dates back to the mid-1500s, and gets its roots from the Greek letter X — which is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ.
The original Elf on the Shelf was named Fisbee. The Elf on the Shelf was inspired by the creators’ own toy elf, Fisbee, who they grew up with in the 1970s. They told HuffPost that Fisbee “would report to Santa Claus at night and be back in a different position in our house the next day.”
