Christmas: Did you know?

National news and sport will be updated at regular intervals across the Christmas and New Year period.

From December 25 onwards, Local news and Local sport will be updated once per day on December 28, 29, 30, January 1 and 3. Normal service will resume on January 4.

Christmas facts

It's not recorded what the biggest Christmas present in the world was, although the Boeing jet airliner one Arab sheik gave to a friend in the early 1990s must surely be in the running.

But there is plenty of other Christmas trivia around - here's a selection to get you in that Christmassy mood:

"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night" is one of our best-loved carols, but few realise it was written by a drunkard who spent every penny he could put in his hands on. To be fair, Nuham Tate was a clever dramatist too - William III appointed him Poet Laureate. Despite the honour, he lived in squalid lodgings, heavily in debt.

In Norway, sheaves of corn are placed on the rooftops to provide a Christmas lunch for the birds.

Did you know that mistletoe - a must at all Christmas parties - is actually a parasitic evergreen which grows on a variety of trees?

In San Francisco , students can sit for the ho-ho-ho levels at the University of Santa Claus. They are taught not to speak loudly or frighten small children, and to be patient when their long beard is being tugged for the umpteenth time.

The biggest Christmas lunch ever provided in Britain was at Cawood Castle, Yorkshire in 1566. One hundred and four oxen, 1,000 sheep, six wild boars and 304 calves were served up together with thousands of geese, rabbits and game birds.

One of the coldest Christmas's on record was that of 1663. The Thames was frozen so hard that coaches ran up and down from Westminster Bridge to the Temple.

The largest Christmas cracker ever - 56ft 7in long mad for British Rail Hull Paragon station for a publicity stunt in 1980.

The first mince pies were made without "lids" and were supposed to represent the manger in the stable.

Christmas - not just a time for presents

There's no getting away from it - Christmas most definitely is the time for children.

OK, so adults may enjoy the Christmas dinner, a holiday away from the hassle, surprise presents and decorating the tree.

But for sheer joy, there is nothing to beat the face of a child at the thought of Father Christmas or during a telling of the Christmas Story.

Catering for a child's love of Christmas needn't be expensive.

Parents may think that impossible especially as the most popular "toys" tend to be computer-orientated.

Then there's peer pressure. Parents know that even those in reception classes can so easily fall victim.

Couple this with the growing conviction that children now view Christmas as the time for big, big presents and it's no wonder parents are beginning to feel forced to financially deliver on the stocking front.

But even though they may appear hypnotised by the glossy advertisements pushing the latest must-haves, children will never abandon the spirit of Christmas.

Every time they speak of Father Christmas and his reindeer, each time they act in the Nativity Play they are finding that spirit.

Ensuring children enjoy the run-up to Christmas - visits to Father Christmas, singing Christmas carols, choosing gifts for friends, helping decorate the tree, going to a pantomime pulling crackers - is just as important as their presents.

It's Christmas - fancy some porridge?

Most of us may spend Christmas Day opening presents, tucking into turkey and playing silly party games afterwards, but how do other countries celebrate the festive season?

Some of the more quirky traditions include consistent bell-ringing throughout Christmas Day, Christmas tree auctions, a Christmas dinner where the main dish is porridge, and festive toffee-making.

Former school governor Stella Ross Collins has spent years researching festive traditions from around the world, and has assembled them in her new book called Christmas! All royalties go to the NSPCC.

Christmas across the world

BULGARIA: Customs reflect the hopes and fears of a farming community. On December 20 it used to be customary for women to refrain from various forms of work. This was because there was a belief that the Virgin went into labour on that day and the prohibitions were an act of homage to her.. Until a few years ago, New Year celebrations were more important than Christmas.

THE CHANNEL ISLANDS: There's an old tradition of ringing the church bells non-stop from midday on Christmas Eve to midnight on Christmas Day.

CROATIA: Croatians apparently shoot when celebrating, especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Young men visit friends or neighbours and from dusk they fire their guns into the air to drive away evil spirits.

GREECE: To members of the Greek Orthodox Church, Christmas ranks second in importance to Easter. There is a strict fast at Advent, so the Christmas feast is particularly welcomed by all.

HOLLAND: Two lots of presents are in store for the Dutch, as children receive the first lot on St Nicholas's Day as well.

LATVIA: During the communist regime, not a word about Christmas was allowed to be mentioned and it was less dangerous to celebrate Christmas at home in private. Nowadays it is a much more jolly affair, with traditional Christmas dinner and the arrival of Father Christmas, or Old Man Winter, as Latvians call him.

LUXEMBOURG: Some villages hold Christmas tree auctions on Christmas Day, the profits of which go to charity. On December 25 there is also the celebration of Greiveldange - the blessing of the wine.

NORWAY: Preparations begin weeks before Christmas, as locals brew the special Christmas beer. One old Norwegian law actually required people to brew beer. This is followed by the traditional house-cleaning and chopping of enough wood to keep the fires burning over the festive season. The traditional Christmas Day meal comprises a main dish of porridge with a hidden almond or, where available, fresh cod.

RUSSIA: The Russian Christmas falls on January 7, so just as we are dismantling our trees, the Russians are putting theirs up. However, New Year is still the main celebration, when Father Frost (a socialist, non-Christian invention) comes to deliver presents to the children.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.