Here at Whip Mix, we are so excited to spend the holidays surrounded by friends and family. Before we log off for the holidays, we wanted to share our favorite gift with you… a little bit of knowledge.

We share our dental know-how with you all year long so we thought we’d mix it up with some festive facts. So, here are 25 fun Christmas facts that even Santa might not know!

1.    Candy canes date back to Germany in 1670
2.    Kissing underneath the mistletoe dates back even further getting its roots from Norse mythology.
3.    The original elf on the shelf was named Frisbee after the creator’s childhood toy.
4.    Tinsel started in 1610 in Germany as real silver.
5.    An estimated 3.6 million Japanese families eat Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas.
6.    A political cartoonist established the North Pole as Santa’s home in the 1800s.
7.    In 2021 out of the 94 million households that displayed Christmas trees and 85% were artificial trees.
8.    Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer made his debut as part of a marketing campaign for a department store in 1939.
9.    We also have marketing to thank for our depiction of Santa Claus. Before 1931 Santa usually looked spooky until Coca-Cola ads began depicting him as Jolly.
10.    In Polar Express Tom Hanks played six different characters. He voiced the conductor, Santa Claus, Scrooge, Hobo, Hero Boy, and the father.
11.    Now a beloved holiday classic ‘It’s a wonderful life’, was originally a box office flop.
12.    Each year more than 100 new Christmas movies are made.
13.    One of those new movies will not be a sequel to the 2003 film Elf with Will Ferrell. He refuses to make a sequel.
14.    To prepare for his role in ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ Jim Carey worked with a CIA torture trainer in order to get through the grueling makeup process.
15.    On December 16th, 1965 Jingle bells became the first song played in space.
16.    “White Christmas” was originally written for a Broadway musical.
17.    “White Christmas” as well as several other popular Christmas songs such as “Let it snow”, “Holly Jolly Christmas” , “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree”, and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was written by Jewish songwriters.
18.    The voice actor for Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger also voices the Grinch in the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
19.    “Joy to the world” is one of the oldest English language Christmas songs originating in the 1700s
20.    Although Christmas songs have been around since the 1700s the first mention of Santa in Christmas songs wasn’t until “Up on the Housetop” in 1864.
21.    Surprisingly Black Friday isn’t the busiest shopping day of the season, that honor goes to the procrastinators heading out the Friday and Saturday before Christmas.
22.    Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day the U.S. Postal, service delivered 910 million packages on top of 15 billion pieces of mail.
23.    Turkey might own Thanksgiving but in the US spiral-cut ham is the most popular choice for Christmas tables.
24.    The Rockefeller Center tree started in 1931 as a small undecorated tree, this year’s tree is 92 feet tall and has more than 25,000 lights on it.
25.    Lastly if you gave all the gifts listed in the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” it would equal 364 presents.

We hope this has tickled your brain cells or at least added a fun fact to share at Christmas dinner. Have yourselves a very Merry Christmas, a Wonderful Holiday Season, and a Happy New Year! We can’t wait to continue to grow with you in 2023!