Christmas Facts

1 .US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second.

2. SANTA has different names around the world – Weihnachtsmann in Germany, Babbo Natale in Italy, Pére Noel in France ,Dedushka Moroz (Grandfather Frost) in Russia and Senis Šaltis in Lithuania.

3.ALTHOUGH now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, mince pies were made with beef and spices.

4. HANGING stockings out comes from the Dutch custom of leaving shoes packed with food for St Nicholas's donkeys. He would leave small gifts in return.

5. BEFORE turkey, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig's head and mustard.

6. RUDOLPH the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938.

7. CHRISTMAS pudding was originally a soup made with raisins and wine.

8. THE largest Christmas cracker - 45.72m long and 3.04m in diameter - was pulled in Australia in 1991.

9. THE chances of a white Christmas are just 1 in 10 for England and Wales, and 1 in 6 for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

10. NEARLY 60 million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe.

11. MANY parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin C.