Did ya know…

The first song ever played on the radio was “O Holy Night” on Christmas Eve in 1906.

The first Salvation Army collection kettle appeared in San Francisco.  It was a large crab pot with a sign that said, “Keep the Pot Boiling.”

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 by the Montgomery Ward department store . . . as a way to save money. They’d buy coloring books to pass out at Christmas but figured it would be cheaper to print their own books with an original character than to keep buying them.

The “X” in X-Mas is not a modern “abbreviation.”  It dates back to the 16th century, and is based on the Greek letter Chi, which looks like “X”.  It’s the first letter in the word that translates to “Christ” in English.

In 1980, the hottest toy of the Christmas season was the Rubik’s cube, which cost $1.99.  Now it retails for $10.