| Fill in the Blank | Answer (in the blank) |
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| US scientists calculated that _______ would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second. | |
| ________ on cards were a joke 150 years ago when postmen wore red tunics and were named after them. | |
| ALTHOUGH now mostly vegetarian, in Victorian times, _______ pies were made with beef and spices. | |
| THE tradition of putting _________ in stockings comes from 12th-century French nuns who left socks full of fruit, nuts and tangerines at the houses of the poor. | |
| DESPITE the tale of three ________ men paying homage to baby Jesus, the Bible never gives a number. Matthew's Gospel refers to merely '______ men'. | |
| _______ began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life. | |
| CAROLS weren't sung in churches until they were introduced by St Francis of Assisi in the ________century. | |
| HANGING _________ out comes from the Dutch custom of leaving shoes packed with food for St Nicholas's donkeys. He would leave small gifts in return. | |
| THERE is no reference to _______ singing anywhere in the Bible. | |
| NEARLY ____ million Christmas trees are grown each year in Europe. | |
| THE word _____ derives from the French expression 'les bonnes nouvelles' or 'the good news'. | |
| _______ was probably born in a cave and not a wooden stable, say Biblical scholars. | |
| THE abbreviation _____ isn't irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ. | |
| THE world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a __________ shopping mall in 1950. | |
| THE chances of a white Christmas are just 1 in __ for England and Wales, and 1 in 6 for Scotland and Northern Ireland. | |
| MANY theologians estimate that Jesus wasn't born on December 25 but sometime in _________ between 6BC and 30AD. | |
| JAMES Pierpont's 1857 song ______ _____ was first called One Horse Open Sleigh and was written for Thanksgiving. | |
| BEFORE ______, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig's head and mustard. | |
| IN 1647, after the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell banned __________. The law wasn't lifted until 1660. | |
| In 1999, residents of the state of ______, USA, built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall. | |
| THE Greeks celebrate Christmas on January _, according to the old Julian calendar, while Xmas presents are opened on New Year's Day. | |
| MANY parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin _. | |
| THE holly in a _____ symbolises Christ's crown of thorns while the red berries are drops of his blood. | |
| THE first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by civil servant Sir Henry Cole in ______ in 1843. Featuring a family drinking wine, one sold for $10 000+ last year. | |
| HANGING _______ on trees may come from the Druids who believed the tree was the giver of all good things. | |
| | Fill in the Blank | Answer (in the blank) |
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| THE largest Christmas _______ - 45.72m long and 3.04m in diameter - was pulled in Australia in 1991. | |
| THE long shopping spree before Christmas began in ________ when relatives of soldiers posted overseas in the Second World War were encouraged to mail gifts early. | |
| JINGLE Bells was the first song broadcast from space when Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sang it on December 16, _____. | |
| ASTRONOMERS believe the Star Of Bethlehem, which guided the wisemen to Jesus, may have been a comet or the planet ______. | |
| ______ has different names around the world - Kriss Kringle in Germany, Le Befana in Italy, Pere Noel in France and Deushka Moroz (Grandfather Frost) in Russia. | |
| THE word Christmas comes from the Old English 'Cristes maesse' meaning 'Christ's ____'. | |
| THE bestselling Xmas single ever is Bing Crosby's ______ _______, shifting over 50million copies worldwide since 1942. | |
| IN Britain, the best-selling festive single is Band Aid's 1984 track, Do They Know It's Christmas?, which sold 3.5million copies.______ is next in the same year with Last Christmas | |
| UPSIDE-down artificial Xmas ______ are sold to allow more gifts to be piled under. | |
| SINCE 1947 _____ has sent an Xmas tree to London to thank us for our help in the Second World War. | |
| CHRISTMAS _________ was originally a soup made with raisins and wine. | |
| LONDON ______maker Tom Smith created the first Christmas crackers in 1847, based on the sweet wrapper design. | |
| SANTA Claus comes from a Dutch folk tale based on Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, who gave gifts on ________ 6. | |
| _________ Day gets its name from all the money collected in church alms-boxes for the poor. | |
| KISSING under the _________ is thought to spring from Frigga, the Norse goddess of love, who was associated with the plant. | |
| THE _______ hold the record for most Xmas number 1 singles, topping the charts in 1963, 65 and 67. | |
| ELECTRIC tree ________ were invented by Edward Johnson in the US in 1882. | |
| THEY may date back to pagan traditions, but the earliest known reference to a Christmas tree is in a German pamphlet from _____. | |
| THE highest-grossing festive movie is 2000's How The _______ Stole Christmas, which has raked in £175m so far. | |
| THERE are __ Santas in Iceland, each leaving a gift for children. They come down from the mountain one by one, starting on December 12 and have names like Spoon Licker, Door Sniffe | |
| ________ the red-nosed reindeer was invented for a US firm's Christmas promotion in 1938. | |
| GOLD-wrapped _________ coins commemorate St Nicholas who gave bags of gold coins to the poor. | |
| THE first Christmas celebrated in Britain is thought to have been in York in ____AD. | |
| IN Greece, Italy, ______ and Germany, workers get a Christmas bonus of one month's salary by law. | |
| IN the Czech Republic they enjoy _______ of fish soup, eggs and carp. The number of people at the table must be even, or the one without a partner will die next year. | |
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Santa's Reindeer
Common Halloween Costumes
Finish the Christmas Song
