How Well Do YOU Know the Holidays?

We've been publishing Christmas-y facts on our Twitter account for over a week now. Here, we've gathered all our facts together, along with some extra information. Learn these well and use your trivia as a great party trick! 

• St. Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra, in modern Turkey, in the 4th century, who was very religious from childhood on. His generosity to the poor, and to children in particular inspired claims of miracles. He is considered the patron saint of children, archers, sailors, Russia, and the cities Amsterdam and Moscow.
• Santa Claus was brought to America by Dutch sailors berthing in New York as their patron saint. "Sinterklaas" became the word "Santa Claus."
• In 1925, it was discovered that there are no reindeer in the North Pole. You can find them in Finland, Norway, Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and Canada.
• Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with as he travels the globe, when you add in the factors of different time zones and the rotation of the earth.
• The Puritans initially tried to make Thanksgiving America's most important annual festival instead of Christmas. 
• The first state to recognize Christmas officially was Alabama in 1836. The last was Oklahoma, in 1907. It became a national holiday in 1870.
• Despite misconceptions that the word X-mas is a secular attempt to take "the Christ out of Christmas," the word has been around since at least the 16th century. X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Xristos.
• If you got all the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," you would receive 364 gifts. 
• Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in just six weeks in 1843. The popular book has never been out of print.
• The people of Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees of goose feathers and dyed green. In 2009, Americans bought 28.2 million real Christmas trees and 11.7 million fake ones! 
• Franklin Pierce was the first President to have a Christmas tree in the White House. 
• Each acre of land used to grow Christmas trees provides the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.
• According to records, the states most likely to have a white Christmas are Michigan, Minnesota and Washington. 
• Poinsettias are the most popular Christmas plant and are the number one flowering potted plant in the US