50 Fun Facts About Christmas by the Numbers

If every gift in The Twelve Days of Christmas is repeated daily, how many gifts are sent in total?

One for every day of the year but one; PNC Bank has priced the whole haul every year since 1984 as the Christmas Price Index.

How many gold rings are given in The Twelve Days of Christmas?

The 1780 text says "gold"; "golden" caught on in North America after Mitch Miller's 1961 recording.

How many reindeer pull Santa's sleigh in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas?

The poem introduced most of the modern Santa; Rudolph did not join the team until 1939.

In what year was A Visit from St. Nicholas first published?

It appeared anonymously; Clement Clarke Moore claimed it in 1837, though some credit Henry Livingston Jr.

Rudolph is usually counted as which number reindeer on Santa's team?

He is the youngest as well, and his nose leads the sleigh on foggy Christmas Eves.

In what year did Robert L. May create Rudolph for the Montgomery Ward department store?

The store gave away 2.4 million copies of the booklet that first year; the song came in 1949 and the TV special in 1964.

How many copies of the Rudolph booklet did Montgomery Ward hand out in its first year?

May's brother-in-law Johnny Marks turned it into the song that Gene Autry took to number one in 1949.

How many spirits does Marley tell Scrooge will visit him in A Christmas Carol?

Past, Present and Yet to Come; Marley's own ghost makes four visitors in all.

In what year was A Christmas Carol published?

It came out on 19 December and had sold out by Christmas Eve.

How many weeks did Dickens take to write A Christmas Carol?

He began in October 1843 and finished the last pages in early December, "at white heat".

Into how many "staves" is A Christmas Carol divided?

Dickens used the musical word instead of chapters to fit the "carol" of the title.

How many candles are on a traditional Advent wreath?

One is lit each Sunday of Advent; some wreaths add a fifth white Christ candle in the middle for Christmas Day.

How many little doors are on a standard Advent calendar?

The December 1 to 24 format became standard after 1945, though some calendars run to Christmas Day.

How many bulbs were on Edward Johnson's first electrically lit Christmas tree in 1882?

They were red, white and blue and the size of walnuts; the White House got its first electric tree in 1895.

About how many LED lights are hung on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree?

The Swarovski star on top has 70 spikes, three million crystals and weighs 900 pounds.

How much does the Swarovski star on top of the Rockefeller Center tree weigh?

Daniel Libeskind designed it in 2018 with three million crystals.

Since what year has the Rockefeller Center tree been an annual tradition?

The tree is usually a Norway spruce between 69 and 100 feet tall, limited by the narrow streets around it.

How old is Kevin McCallister in Home Alone?

He defends the family's suburban Chicago house from the Wet Bandits after everyone flies to Paris without him.

In what year was Home Alone released?

It was the second-highest-grossing film of the year and the top-grossing live-action comedy for two decades.

How much did Home Alone gross worldwide?

Five sequels followed, ending with Home Sweet Home Alone in 2021.

How many Home Alone sequels have been made?

Lost in New York in 1992, then three more nobody remembers, then Home Sweet Home Alone in 2021.

For how many years had the Grinch put up with Whoville's Christmas noise before he snapped?

His heart was two sizes too small; the book came out in 1957 and Boris Karloff voiced him in 1966.

How many sizes too small is the Grinch's heart?

It grows three sizes on Christmas morning when he hears the Whos singing anyway.

In what year did It's a Wonderful Life come out?

It flopped, then became a Christmas fixture after its copyright lapsed in 1974 and TV stations could show it free.

How many Academy Award nominations did It's a Wonderful Life receive?

It won none, and lost money at the box office.

How many Oscars did Miracle on 34th Street win?

Edmund Gwenn won for playing Kris Kringle, plus two writing awards.

In what year was Elf released?

Will Ferrell's Buddy made $228.9 million on a $33 million budget.

In what year was Die Hard, the eternal "is it a Christmas film" debate, released?

It grossed about $140 million and was the year's top action film, despite mixed first reviews.

What was The Polar Express's record-breaking budget, the highest ever for an animated film at the time?

Tom Hanks played multiple roles via motion capture; it grossed $286 million initially.

In what year was Silent Night first performed, in Oberndorf, Austria?

Franz Gruber wrote the melody for guitar on Christmas Eve, possibly because flooding had damaged the church organ.

Roughly how many known recordings of Silent Night exist?

UNESCO declared it intangible cultural heritage in 2011.

In what year was Jingle Bells published, under the title The One Horse Open Sleigh?

James Lord Pierpont copyrighted it in September, and it was probably written for Thanksgiving.

In what year did Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker premiere?

American ballet companies now earn around 40% of their yearly ticket revenue from it.

What share of their annual ticket revenue do major American ballet companies make from The Nutcracker?

The 20-minute Nutcracker Suite was a hit nine months before the full ballet was.

Roughly how many physical copies has Bing Crosby's White Christmas sold, making it the best-selling single ever?

Add every other version and the song passes 100 million.

How many weeks did White Christmas top the Billboard chart on its 1942 release?

It came from the film Holiday Inn and won Irving Berlin the Oscar for Best Original Song.

How many weeks had Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You been No. 1 by Jan 2026?

That made the 1994 song the longest-running number one in US chart history.

In what year was the first commercial Christmas card printed in London for Sir Henry Cole?

John Callcott Horsley designed it; 2,050 were printed and sold for a shilling each, the same year as A Christmas Carol.

How many of Sir Henry Cole's first Christmas cards were printed in 1843?

They cost a shilling each; the design was picked up in America in 1874.

In what year was Rome first recorded celebrating Christmas on December 25?

The Chronograph of 354 also lists it as the birthday of the sun god Sol Invictus.

How many months separate the Annunciation on March 25 from Christmas Day?

December 25 was also the Roman date of the winter solstice, and March 25 the spring equinox.

On which day of January do Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar celebrate Christmas?

It is still December 25 on their older calendar, which currently runs 13 days behind.

How many girls did Saint Nicholas save from prostitution by tossing gold through their window?

He did it on three nights so their father could pay their dowries, the root of the gift-giving legend.

In what year, according to tradition, did Saint Nicholas die on December 6?

December 6 is still his feast day; 270 was his traditional birth year and 1087 when his relics went to Bari.

How many ingredients should a traditional Christmas pudding have, according to the popular myth?

One for Christ and each of the 12 apostles, stirred east to west for the Magi; the myth is a Victorian invention.

In what year did NORAD's Santa tracker begin, after a Sears advert misprinted a phone number?

The number was one digit off the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs, and Colonel Harry Shoup answered.

How many square kilometres is Christmas Island, the Australian territory sighted in 1643?

Captain William Mynors spotted it on Christmas Day; about 1,700 people live there today.

In what year was Christmas Island discovered, on Christmas Day?

It passed to Australia from Singapore in 1958.

In what year was The Elf on the Shelf book published?

Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell based it on their own family tradition.

Roughly how many Christmas trees are produced in the United States each year?

Europe grows even more, 50 to 60 million a year, and by 2016 Americans were spending over $2 billion on real trees alone.