Interesting Christmas Facts and Traditions - Part 1

Recently it was brought to my attention that Alabama was the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday way back in 1836.  I never knew that!  Living in Alabama all my life, I thought I would have come across that interesting holiday tidbit earlier than now.  That made me think, "What other interesting facts and traditions about Christmas do I not know?"
So, I started looking and, "Oh boy", there are a lot of interesting things to learn.  I thought I would share some of them with you.  There is a long list, so I will include a few installments leading up to Christmas Day.  I would love to hear some of your favorites too.  Please share!

* The first Christmas tree lights were sold by General Electric in 1903.

First Christmas Card

The Christmas card tradition began in the UK in 1843.  Sir Henry Cole was a civil servant with the post office and invented the cards to encourage more people to use the service. About 1000 of the 3-panel cards (see picture) were sold.  The original cards are very rare and can bring as much as $3,000 at auction.  About 1.5 billion Christmas cards are sent in the U.S. each year.

* Every year, a 275 ft Christmas tree is erected to float in a lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The poinsettia is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett.  He was a US ambassador to Mexico, where the plants grow and flower during the winter.  He brought some of the plants back to his home in South Carolina, where he began to grow in his greenhouses.  The tie to Christmas comes from an old Mexican legend about a young girl who had no gift to give the baby Jesus during the Christmas Eve services.  Walking to the chapel, her cousin tried to cheer her up by saying, "I'm sure that even the smallest gift, given by someone who loves him, will make Jesus happy."  So, she picked a handful of small weeds and created a bouquet to place at the nativity.  In addition, the shape of the poinsettia flower and leaves are connected to the Star of Bethlehem.  The red leaves symbolize the blood of Christ and the white leaves represent His purity.

Holly is linked to Christmas through it's symbolism that the leaves represent the crown of thorns and the berries represent Jesus' drops of blood from those thorns.  Scandinavians actually call it the Christ Thorn plant.  An old non-religious belief is that holly is a male plant and ivy is a female plant.  The English tradition says that which ever plant is brought into the house first over the winter will determine if the husband or the wife will rule the house for the following year.  But, it was unlucky to bring them in the house before Christmas Eve.

The custom of hanging mistletoe in the house dates back to ancient times when it was believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to the household.  The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe originated in England.  The original custom was that a berry had to be picked from the mistletoe before a person was kissed.  When the berries ran out, so did the kissing.  While mistletoe provides a great source of food to birds and insects, it is poisonous to humans!