Catcountry's Christmas Radio 94.5

The three traditional colors of most Christmas decorations are red, green and gold. Red symbolizes the blood of Christ, Green symbolized life and rebirth, and Gold represents light, royalty and wealth.
The tradition of Tinsel is based on a legend about spiders whose webs turned to silver when they were spun in a Christmas Tree.
In Dublin in 1742 the Christmas oratorio, “The Messiah”, by George Frederick Handle was first performed.

The image of Santa Claus flying his sleigh began in 1819 and was created by Washington Irving, the same author who dreamt up the Headless Horseman.
German-born American illustrator Thomas Nast (1840-1902) helped create the modern version of Santa as jolly, chubby, and dressed mainly in red.
The first mention of Mrs. Claus was in the 1849 short story A Christmas Legend by James Rees. She was popularized in Katherine Lee Bates's 1889 poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride." The term "Goody" is short for "Goodwife," or "Mrs."

The North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) “Santa Tracker” was born from a misprint in the newspaper. A 1955 Sears ad was supposed to print the number of a store where children could call and tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. The number printed was to the hotline of the Director of Operations for the U.S. Continental Air Defense. Colonel Shoup ordered his staff to give the children updates on the flight coordinates of Santa.
NORAD continues to provide flight updates for local news, the Internet, and even a special iPhone application every Christmas.

Clement Moore’s poem introduced the eight reindeer for Santa’s sleigh and their names were Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Duner and Blixem (for the German words for thunder and lightning). These later evolved into Donner and Blitzen.
Most of these names are male-sounding names. Male reindeer shed their antlers in winter, however, so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are more than likely female
Believing in Santa Claus cultivates a child's imagination and ability to think of possibilities and potentialities.

One of the reasons fruitcakes were treasured throughout our history was because they were an efficient way to preserve food for long journeys and bitter winters. The long shelf life of a fruitcake meant that they could be baked in the summer and fall and used to supplement food stores over the entire winter. It's the sugar and alcohol combination that helps them last so long.
Fruitcakes are like fine wine, they get better with age. Fresh fruitcake needs to sit and ripen for at least a month before it should be eaten and unlike most cake and bread, fruitcake only gets better with time.

Some leave food out for Santa Claus’ reindeer as Norse children did, leaving hay and treats for Odin’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir hoping they would stop by during their hunting adventures.
Dutch children adopted this same tradition, leaving food in their wooden shoes for St. Nicholas’ horse.
America’s first batch of eggnog was made in the Jamestown settlement in 1607. Its name comes from the word “grog”, meaning any drink made with rum.

For Western Christians, St Nicholas's Day is celebrated, or observed, on December 6th annually, celebrating the feast day of St Nicholas.
The day celebrates St Nicholas’s bringing of gifts with many thinking that modern day Santa Claus came from this Saint.
Eastern Christian Churches celebrate the day on December 19th as they follow the Julian calendar.
The first Christmas was celebrated in America in 1539 when a group of people gathered for the celebration devoid of any gifts or trees.

Scientists have calculated that Santa must travel at 650 miles per second to deliver all the worlds presents on Christmas Eve.
There is an underwater mountain range, called Christmas Ridge located approximately 120 miles off the coast of Tampa bay.
The oldest artificial Christmas trees date back to the late 1800s and were made of green raffia (think grass hula skirts) or dyed goose feathers.
'Jingle Bells' – was the first song sung by astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra in space, on December 16, 1965.

The old English custom of wassailing was to toast to someone’s long life at Christmastide and was the forerunner for the tradition of Christmas caroling.
Today, wassail is hot apple cider with honey and spices, but the drink came from the Middle Ages, when it was originally made with wine, ale, or hard cider topped with stale bread or beaten eggs. Neighbors would visit on Christmas Eve and drink to each other’s health (ves heill meant “in good health” in Old Norse).

Between the 16th and 19th centuries global temperatures were significantly lower than normal in what was known as a “little ice age”. Charles Dickens grew up during this period and experienced snow for his first eight Christmases. This “White Christmas” experience influenced his writing and began a tradition of expectation for the holidays.
The Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg, Germany was first held in 1570 and is one of Europe’s oldest Christmas markets. It is also the largest in Europe. Folks from all over the world visit it annually.

Scandinavian mythology brought us the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. However, in France, people kiss under the mistletoe during New Year's, not Christmas.
In Poland spiders are considered to be symbols of prosperity and goodness at Christmas. In fact, spiders and spider webs are often used as Christmas tree decorations. According to legend, a spider wove baby Jesus a blanket to keep him warm.
In Hawaii, Santa Claus is called Kanakaloka.

Robert May created Rudolph the Reindeer as a marketing gimmick for Montgomery Ward, to encourage children to buy their Christmas coloring books.
The original Rudolph did not have a red nose. In that day and age, red noses were seen as an indicator of chronic alcoholism and Montgomery Ward didn't want him to look like a drunkard.
Mr. May was very indecisive when it came to a name. He liked Rollo but thought that was too happy for his reindeer and Reginald seemed simply too British!

Since 1918 the city of Boston has received a giant Christmas tree as a gift from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Boston lent considerable support to the city of Halifax during their 1917 explosion and subsequent fire disaster.
The Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square is donated to the people of London every year by the people of Oslo, Norway in thanks for their assistance during World War II.
The popular Christmas song 'Jingle Bells' was composed by James Pierpont in Massachusetts. It was, however, written for thanksgiving and not Christmas.

The Christmas wreath was originally hung as a symbol of Jesus. The holly represents his crown of thorns and the red berries the blood he shed.
Saint Nicholas is believed to have been the bishop of Myra in Lycia sometime before 350 A.D.
In the 13th century St. Francis of Assisi began the custom of singing carols in church.
The 12 Days of Christmas are, in fact, the days from December 25^th, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, to the Epiphany on January 6^th, as the day when the manifestation of Christ's glory was realized.

In 1914 during World War I there was a now famous Christmas truce in the trenches between the British and the Germans. They exchanged gifts across a neutral no man’s land, played football together, and decorated their shelters.
Bicycle, the U.S. playing card company, manufactured cards to give all the POWS in Germany during World War II as Christmas presents. These cards, when soaked in water, revealed an escape route for POWs. The Nazis never knew.

The tradition of hanging stockings comes from a Dutch legend. A poor man had three daughters for whom he could not afford to provide a dowry. St. Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down his chimney and gold coins fell out and into the stockings drying by the fireplace. The daughters now had dowries and could be married, avoiding a life on the streets.
In the Santa Claus narrative, naughty children most likely receive coal as a matter of convenience. Santa is already wriggling down the chimney, so it's easy for him to pick up coal.

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