1) Have we always had turkey for Christmas dinner?
Up until the 1940’s turkey was a luxury food in the UK, so people used to have goose or beef for Christmas dinner as they were cheaper. These days turkeys are commercially produced, and have become the most popular British Christmas dinner
2) Do other countries eat Turkey on Christmas day?
Other countries have their own traditions, in Italy fish is eaten on Christmas day, and in Australia people often have a BBQ!
3) Where does the character of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer come from?
The most famous reindeer in the world was created by Robert L. May in 1939. He wrote the story to go with a colouring book which was sold in an American department store.
4) What’s the history of Christmas trees?
It was Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert (who was German) who first brought a Christmas tree to Windsor Castle way back in 1846. A picture of the royal family in-front of the Christmas tree made the idea popular throughout England and America.
5) Why do we give presents at Christmas time?
The tradition of giving Christmas presents comes from the three kings in the nativity story. The three kings travelled to Bethlehem to give presents to the baby Jesus
6) What’s Boxing Day?
Way back when people had servants, Boxing Day was created to give servants a holiday on the 26th December as reward for working hard all year – and because they would have worked on Christmas day.
7) When should we put up the decorations?
Traditionally, Christmas trees weren’t brought into houses and decorated until Christmas Eve; in fact it was considered bad luck to have them up before then. Nowadays it’s popular to put your tree and decorations up early in December.
8) When should we take our Christmas decorations down?
It’s considered bad luck to have your decorations up on the day after the 12th night (6th January). So don't forget to take them down in time!
9) How many Christmas trees are produced?
Each Christmas we get through an amazing 50 to 60 million Christmas trees in Europe and 33 to 36 million more in America.
10) What’s best for the environment, a real or an artificial Christmas tree?
Recently people have been worried about whether artificial or real trees are better for the environment. Artificial trees are usually made out of non-biodegradable materials like PVC and/or polyethylene so they are usually non-recyclable, which means they can end up in landfill sites. So if you buy an artificial tree, make sure you use it for many years.
11) Can we recycle our real Christmas tree?
Although real trees are used only for a short time, they can be recycled and many local councils run schemes where they will collect used Christmas trees and mulch them (chop them up into tiny bits) to use as fertilizer in local parks.
12) Should we be chopping trees down?
Real trees also help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while growing. Just make sure that your Christmas tree comes from a sustainable forest so that trees are planted to replace the ones that are cut down.
