Glories of Christmases Long Long Ago
The company responsible for creating the image of a fat and jolly Santa Claus.
Hallmark
Coca Cola
Hershey’s
General Motors
What is Coca Cola?
Santa wasn’t always the jolly man in red. Older depictions of Santa from the early 1900s depicted him more sternly, and there wasn't a standardized "look" for his appearance. The classic image of a happy and plump Santa that we all know today came in part from Coca-Cola ads, drawn in 1931 by illustrator Haddon Sundblom.
A mother-daughter team wrote a book which launched this trend that has become unstoppable since 2007.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Christmas Gnomes
Elf on the Shelf
Christmas Hippopotamuses
What is Elf on the Shelf?
The Elf on the Shelf tradition originated from a family tradition in Georgia in the 1970s. Carol Aebersold and her daughters, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts, started the Elf on the Shelf company after self-publishing their book Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition in 2005.
This Christmas movie was originally a box office bomb.
Miracle on 34th Street
It’s a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Love Actually
What is It’s a Wonderful Life?
Though it has become a quintessential American classic, It’s a Wonderful Life was not an immediate hit with audiences. In fact, it put director Frank Capra $525,000 in the hole, which left him scrambling to finance his production company’s next picture, State of the Union.
Eggnog is made of eggs, milk, sugar and this additional ingredient.
Butter
Water
Cream
Salt
What is cream?
Norwegians hide this item during Christmas to prevent mischief.
Toys
Bells
Brooms
Soaps
What are Brooms?
One fun way that Norway celebrates, is on Christmas Eve they hide away all the brushes and brooms in the house. They do this because they believe, or years ago they believed, that on this night of the year, witches and bad spirits would turn up to do mischief. To stop the witches from being able to fly around doing bad things, they hid their brushes and brooms.
The century in which wreaths became a Christmas custom.
12th century
14th century
16th century
18th century
What is the 16th century?
The custom of bringing evergreens into the home began in the 16th century among northern and eastern Europeans, primarily Germans, as a means of cleaning up the Christmas tree and making it more uniform. Instead of throwing out cut-off greens, people wove the excess into wreaths.
This song has spawned a popular TikTok trend which involves a couple dancing, most often outside and in the snow.
Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande
Snowman by Sia
A Nonsense Christmas by Sabrina Carpenter
All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey
What is Snowman by Sia?
The trend is set to the lyrics:
”I want you to know that I'm never leaving
'Cause I'm Mrs. Snow, 'til death we'll be freezing
Yeah, you are my home, my home for all seasons
So come on, let's go
Let's go below zero and hide from the sun
I love you forever where we'll have some fun”
This Christmas movie was responsible for killing business for aluminum Christmas trees.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Carol
What is A Charlie Brown Christmas?
Aluminum Christmas trees were marketed beginning in 1958 and enjoyed fairly strong sales by eliminating pesky needles and tree sap. But the annual airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas swayed public thinking: In the special, Charlie Brown refuses to get a fake tree. Viewers began to do the same, and the product was virtually phased out by 1969. The leftovers are now collector’s items.
This is the most popular Christmas food in the US.
Roast Beef
Ham
Roasted/Scalloped Potatoes
Duck
What is Roasted/Scalloped Potatoes?
Along with mashed potatoes that rank as the most popular Thanksgiving food, it’s clear that Americans are in it for the potatoes! Wisconsin and Louisiana love duck and both rate it as their most popular Christmas dish. America’s least favorites? Persimmon Pudding and Fruitcake.
On Christmas Eve, single women in the Czech Republic toss this over their shoulder at the door.
Rice
A Shoe
Snow
An Orange
What is a shoe?
Unmarried women throw a shoe over their shoulder towards the door on Christmas Eve. If the toe points towards the door, it’s said they will marry within the year.
The number of times the song Silent Night has been copyrighted since 1978.
28 times
100 times
525 times
733 times
What is 733 times?
"Silent Night" is actually the most-recorded Christmas song in history. It's had more than 733 different versions copyrighted since 1978.
The song Here Comes Santa Claus is remixed in this movie, which has today become a popular TikTok dance trend.
Mean Girls
Pitch Perfect 2
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
The Grinch (2018 feat. Pen-or-tick Dumpster-Stash)
What is Pitch Perfect 2?
This trend comes from a scene in the movie where Anna Kendrick helps Snoop Dogg create a remix of Winter Wonderland / Here Comes Santa Claus.
Jim Carrey worked with this specialist for Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Animal Prosthetics Expert
Meditation Professional and Yogi
Behavioral Psychologist
CIA Specialist
What is a CIA specialist?
Some movies require extreme levels of training from their actors, but the 2000 film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" took this to a surprising level. Lead actor and comedian Jim Carrey reportedly had to endure so much makeup, costuming, and prosthetics to play the role of the furry green Grinch that he told his director and producer he couldn't take it anymore. Their solution? Hire a CIA expert in torture resistance to train him.
Orthodox Russians do not eat these food on Christmas Eve.
Sweets and Baked Goods
Dairy and Nuts
Meat and Sweets
Dairy and Meat
What is Dairy and Meat?
Orthodox Russians traditionally fast on Christmas Eve, as it marks the end of the "Nativity Fast," a 40-day period leading up to Christmas where they abstain from meat and dairy products, breaking the fast with a special meal after attending church services on Christmas Eve
People in Japan celebrate Christmas with this festive fast food.
McDonalds
KFC
Subway
Taco Bell
What is KFC?
In Japan, Christmas means fried chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has become the default Christmas dinner, thanks to a successful 1970s marketing campaign. Families place their orders weeks ahead, because nothing says holiday spirit quite like a bucket of original recipe.
The year in which Christmas cards were invented.
1362
1535
1843
1921
What is 1843?
Christmas cards were invented by Henry Cole in 1843, and by the end of the century everyone was sending them. But the festive illustrations favoured by the Victorians were far more wild and weird than the penguins and snowmen that adorn our cards today.
Artists produced such unusual images as: a dead robin, children riding flying bats, a man being attacked by a bear, a mouse riding a lobster, and two small children being harassed by a giant wasp. The cards were treated as works of art, being displayed in exhibitions and even critically reviewed.
These two topics are commonly attributed to fathers on Christmas Day in humorous TikTok comedy skits.
Choose two:
Hiding during the cleaning prep
Picking up wrapping paper ASAP
Standing in the snow while grilling with a beer
Not knowing which gifts are from him
What is picking up the wrapping paper before it’s even off the gift and not knowing which gifts have his name on them because Mom bought them?
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was animated in this country.
USA
Japan
Russia
Brazil
What is Japan?
Rudolph was outsourced to Japan. Its concept, songs, voices and storyboard came from America and Canada. The animation and puppets were done in Tokyo. Another fun fact: The overall budget for Rudolph was roughly $500,000, or over $4.8 million today.
This is the most popular Christmas cookie across the U.S. according to Google Trends, who surveyed the most searched cookies.
Sugar Cookies
Italian Christmas Cookies
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Gingerbread Cookies
What is Italian Christmas Cookies?
Seven of out of fifty states had Italian Christmas cookies as the most uniquely searched holiday cookie in 2024, making it the most popular throughout the country. Other (less) popular cookies include gingerbread, sugar, and oddly enough, buche de noel, which isn't even a cookie. Wisconsin’s most searched? Sugar Cookies!
In Ukraine, it is tradition to place this type of ornament on their tree.
A Shoe
A Pickle
A Wheat Stalk
A Spider
What is a spider?
This tradition is considered to be one possible origin for tinsel. The story around the tradition goes: An impoverished widow and her children who look forward to decorating the pine tree that grew in their garden after a pinecone fell there. But they can’t afford to buy any decorations for the tree when the holiday season arrives. The spiders that dwell in their house hear the family crying one night because of this, and decide to adorn the branches with their webs. The next morning, their silky creations glittered gold and silver in the sunlight, and the widow and her children were never short of anything again.
In 1955, NORAD received a phone call from this person, which launched their tradition of being the official Santa Tracker.
A Young Boy
President Eisenhower
Vice President Richard Nixon
U.S. Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup
Who is a young boy?
In 1955, at the height of Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union, a general at the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado received a call on a top-secret hotline. Bracing himself for news of a missile attack, the general instead heard the shaky voice of a young boy asking, “Are you really Santa Claus?” The number had been mistakenly published in the newspaper as a Sears Santa hotline, but instead of dismissing the incident, CONAD (renamed NORAD in 1958) embraced the role as the official Santa Tracker, using its massive satellite network once a year to broadcast Santa’s exact whereabouts. Today, 1,500 NORAD troops and volunteers answer phone lines on Christmas Eve.
This Christmas decor trend is great for small spaces and tight budgets!
Christmas ornaments hung on doors
Christmas lights and ornaments hanging from a hallway ceiling
A statue of Santa decorated with tinsel and Christmas lights
Ribbons strung on the wall in the shape of a tree
What is Christmas lights and ornaments hanging from a hallway ceiling?
In A Christmas Story, Flick’s tongue was attached to the pole during filming using the following tool.
Liquid Glue
Ice/Cold Temperature
A Vacuum
Sticky Candy
What is a vacuum?
Flick's tongue was actually suctioned by a hidden vacuum to give off the illusion that it was frozen to the pole. The actor who played Flick explained the whole thing, saying "[The pole] had a little hole in it with a suction tube that went into the snow — you couldn’t see it. It was a little motor, like a small vacuum cleaner, [and] the hole-opening [in the plastic] was about the size of your pinky nail. So when you put your tongue there or finger or whatever, it just stuck."
A fruitcake baked in this year has survived until today, being passed down as a family heirloom.
1878
1899
1923
1935
What is 1878?
When a fruitcake contains a good deal of alcohol, it can be preserved for many years. So can be seen in the fruitcake was baked in 1878 by Fidelia Ford in Michigan. It is reported that Fidelia traditionally made her fruitcakes ahead and let each one age a full year before serving at family gatherings. Sadly, she passed away before she was able to enjoy her 1878 fruitcake. Her family then became very possessive of the now “heirloom” fruitcake and took care to preserve it for generations after. It was sampled only once when Fidelia’s son, Morgan, appeared on the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno in 2003.
In this South American country, it’s custom to roller skate to church for Christmas.
Brazil
Peru
Venezuela
Argentina
What is Venezuela?
In Caracas, Venezuela, it is customary for people to roller skate to church for the Misa de Aguinaldo (Early Morning Mass) during the week leading up to Christmas. This unique tradition is so popular that roads are often closed to accommodate the skaters.