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We wanted to take this opportunity to convey our sincere appreciation to you, our most valued patients, whom we have had the immense pleasure of providing dental care to, and to those who have utilized our services during this past year, we wish you peace and goodwill. “Thank you for investing in one of your most valuable possessions, your dental health!”

Each month we are given the pleasure by The Lahontan Valley News of educating you on the various aspects of dental care as well as a range of procedures and specialties. We hope you enjoy these articles as much as we enjoy sharing them with you. We thought we would take a break from our usual articles and share some fun facts about Christmas. In keeping with the holiday spirit, please enjoy!

Christmas Fun Facts And Legends:

1. Christmas wasn’t declared an official holiday in the United States until June 26, 1870. Alabama was the first state to officially recognize Christmas in 1836. Oklahoma was the last state to declare Christmas a legal holiday, in 1907.

2. Christmas trees have been sold in the U.S. since 1850. Today, approximately 30-35 million living Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S. The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of goose feathers dyed green. According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington.

3. Today, the White House’s annual Christmas tree lighting has become a celebrated tradition, which was started by President Coolidge in 1923. But try telling that to Teddy Roosevelt, who didn’t think the event was very majestic. In fact, he found it so infuriating that he enacted a total ban on putting up a tree in the White House during his term. In fact, in 1902, Roosevelt’s son Archie snuck his own Christmas tree into the house which he hid in a closet. The 26th President wasn’t a Scrooge, he was just an avid outdoorsmen and conservationist who found deforestation revolting.

4. If you received all of the gifts in the song, “Twelve Days of Christmas” you would receive a total of 364 gifts.

5. Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names, such as Blitzen, Comet, and Cupid. However, male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas, so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are likely not male, but female.

6. The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico in the early 1800’s. The poinsettia is native to Mexico and was cultivated by the Aztecs, who called the plant Cuetlaxochitl (“flower which wilts”). For the Aztecs, the plant’s brilliant red color symbolized purity. Contrary to popular belief, the poinsettia is not poisonous, but holly berries are.

7. In Germany, Heiligabend, or Christmas Eve, is said to be a magical time when the pure in heart can hear animals talking.

8. A Yule log is an enormous log that is typically burned during the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25-January 6). Some scholars suggest that the word yule means “revolution” or “wheel,” which symbolizes the cyclical return of the sun. A burning log or its charred remains is said to offer health, fertility, and luck as well as the ability to ward off evil spirits

9. Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nikolas of Myra (also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker, Bishop Saint Nicholas of Smyrna, and Nikolaos of Bari), who lived during the fourth century. Born in Patara (in modern-day Turkey), he is the world’s most popular non-Biblical saint, and artists have portrayed him more often than any other saint except Mary. He is the patron saint of banking, pawnbroking, pirating, butchery, sailing, thievery, orphans, royalty, and New York City.

10. It is estimated that the single “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin is the best selling single of all time, with over 100 million sales worldwide.

11. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are 2,106 million children under age 18 in the world. If there are on average 2.5 children per household, Santa makes 842 million stops on Christmas Eve, traveling 221 million miles!

12. It is said that the famous song “All I want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”, written by Don Gardner, a music teacher in the 1940’s, was motivated when he was selecting songs for his second graders Christmas program. It is said that he was inspired by watching the children tell their teacher what they wanted for Christmas that year, and in doing so they all used the same phrase, “All I want for Christmas”, he said. The story goes, that he noticed that 16 of the 22 children in that second grade class were missing their front teeth. And from there, a song was born that has been listened to and sang by thousands of children throughout the years.

13. A snowflake has six points.

14, It’s A Wonderful Life” appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie, and “The Nutcracker” remains the most famous Christmas ballet.

15. The song “Jingle Bells” was originally written for Thanksgiving. It is said that composer, Lord Pierpont wrote the song in the 1850s to play for his Boston Sunday school class during Thanksgiving as a way to commemorate the famed Medford sleigh races. Kids and adults loved the song and eventually changed the lyrics to fit Christmas.

Thank you again for your continued trust and confidence in our office. We hope you have a safe and Happy Holidays season. Merry Christmas to all!

See you next year! The Dentists’ Office Team