Facts You Probably don’t Need

• “Jingle Bells” was originally written as a Thanksgiving song. It was written in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont at Simpson Tavern in Medford, Massachusetts.

• The first known reference to Santa living in the North Pole is in an 1866 cartoon from Harper’s Weekly by famed political cartoonist Thomas Nast — the same man responsible for establishing the elephant and donkey as the representatives for today’s two major political parties.

• In Japan, it is a Christmas tradition to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.

• Before settling on the name Rudolph, his creator, Robert L. May, also considered Rollo and Reginald.

• The first Christmas tree was erected in Rockefeller Center in 1931. The first tree was less than 20 feet tall.

• 2018’s remake of “The Grinch” is the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time. Number two is 1990’s “Home Alone.”

• Christmas was declared a federal holiday by Ulysses S. Grant on June 28, 1870.

• In Canada, the postal code “H0H 0H0” is designated for Santa at the North Pole.

            Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.