Did You Know...

People sing "Jingle Bells" at Christmas; but, the carol was actually written by James Pierpont in 1857 for a Thanksgiving program at a Boston Sunday school. He originally called it "One Horse Open Sleigh".

Christmas celebrations focus on good food; and, in the Middle Ages, the feasting involved ten courses that began in the middle of the afternoon and continued until midnight. Today, North Americans don't eat all day; but, they do consume 24 million turkeys and 112 million cans of cranberry sauce a year.

In the olden days, candles on Christmas trees looked beautiful, but, they could be dangerous. In 1895, American Ralph Morris got the idea to use electric lights instead.

People from different walks of life didn't mix much on the ocean liner, Titanic. For example, first-class passengers used the front part of the big ship's deck as their promenade area, while the second-class passengers used the rear deck.