A Ten-Minute Christmas

Here are ten fun facts about Christmas, compiled in ten minutes, using Yahoo! search.

• “Christmas” was the number one search on Yahoo! on Friday, Dec. 22. 2006.
  “God Jul!” is Norwegian for “Merry Christmas!”; in Finland they say “Hyvää Joulua!”, and in Ukraine, “Srozhdestvom Kristovym!”
• British leader Oliver Cromwell cancelled Christmas in 1645. No kidding.
• During the 1820s, Christmas Eve, not New Year’s Eve, was the big party night, sometimes ending in riots.
• More than 38 million households tuned into the movie, “A Christmas Story” during one Christmas Eve television marathon.
• The real-life Saint Nicholas lived in what is now Turkey, a long, long way from the North Pole.
• The first Christmas tree with electric lights was displayed December 22, 1882, by an Edison Electric Light Company VP.
• David Sedaris’ “SantaLand Diaries” first aired on National Public Radio in 1992.
• Twenty-eight oxen and 300 sheep: That’s what King Richard II of England’s guests ate at his Christmas feast in 1377.
• Santa Claus is also known as: Father Christmas, Father Frost, Joulupukki, Kris Kringle, Saint Basil, Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas and Weihnachtsmann… St. Basil?

Whatever your holiday traditions, all of us here at Yahoo! Search Marketing wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

—The Team