Christmas Trivia Questions100 Answers, 10 Themed Rounds

December 25 — December 25 marks the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. December 24 is Christmas Eve, and January 6 is Epiphany — and Christmas Day itself in the Armenian Apostolic tradition, while Orthodox churches on the older Julian calendar celebrate on January 7.

Advent — Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas. Advent calendars — a German invention — turned the countdown into a daily ritual of doors, pictures, and eventually chocolate.

December 25 — The twelve days run from Christmas Day to January 5, ending at Epiphany on January 6 — so the song's gift marathon starts on Christmas, not before it. Twelfth Night marked the close of the medieval festive season.

Boxing Day — Boxing Day likely takes its name from the tradition of giving Christmas boxes — gifts or money — to servants and tradespeople the day after Christmas. It is also St. Stephen's Day, the day the carol's Good King Wenceslas looked out.

The Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christ in Greek — X is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christos. The abbreviation has been used by Christian scribes for centuries — it is not a modern shortcut.

Red and green — Green evergreens symbolized life through winter and red matched holly berries — a pairing centuries old that Victorian cards and modern advertising locked in permanently. Gold, for the star and riches of the Magi, is the classic third.

Kiss — The kissing custom grew popular in 18th- and 19th-century England. In one version of the etiquette, a berry was plucked for each kiss — when the berries ran out, so did the kissing.

The Star of Bethlehem — The tree topper recalls the star that, in the Gospel of Matthew, guided the Magi to Bethlehem. The angel is the other classic topper choice.

Eggnog — Eggnog descends from posset, a warm milky ale drink of medieval Britain. Colonial Americans spiked it generously with rum — the name may come from noggin, a small wooden cup it was served in.

Stockings — Legend traces the custom to St. Nicholas tossing bags of gold down a poor man's chimney, where they landed in stockings hung to dry — which is also why oranges in the toe of a stocking represent gold.

Saturnalia — Saturnalia, held in mid-late December, featured feasts, role reversals, and small gifts. Early Christmas celebrations absorbed much of its midwinter merriment.

336 AD — A Roman document known as the Philocalian calendar places the earliest known December 25 Christmas celebration in 336, during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor.

Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband — The German-born Prince Albert set up trees at Windsor Castle, and an 1848 Illustrated London News engraving of the royal family around one made the German custom an overnight sensation on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Puritans in England and Boston — Puritans considered Christmas revelry unscriptural and rowdy. Boston outlawed celebrating it from 1659 to 1681, and Cromwell's England suppressed it in the 1640s and 1650s.

1870 — President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill making Christmas a federal holiday in June 1870, alongside New Year's Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving — the first federal holidays in US history.

Held an unofficial truce and met in no man's land — In the Christmas Truce of 1914, British and German troops sang carols, exchanged small gifts, and by many accounts kicked footballs around no man's land — a spontaneous peace their commanders made sure was never repeated.

A Visit from St. Nicholas — First printed anonymously in 1823 by the Troy Sentinel — headed Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas — and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, the poem invented much of the modern Santa: the sleigh, the chimney entrance, and eight named reindeer.

The 1840s — Civil servant Henry Cole commissioned the first commercial Christmas card in 1843 — the same year A Christmas Carol was published — because he was too busy to write individual holiday letters.

Crossed the Delaware River to attack Trenton — Washington's surprise crossing of the icy Delaware led to victory over Hessian troops at Trenton on December 26 — a gamble that revived the American Revolution at its lowest point.

Thomas Edison — Edward H. Johnson, Edison's business partner, hand-wired 80 red, white, and blue bulbs onto a rotating tree in his Manhattan home — reporters dubbed him the Father of the Electric Christmas Tree.

Jingle Bells — James Lord Pierpont copyrighted it in 1857 as The One Horse Open Sleigh — the Thanksgiving story is likely legend, but the song truly never mentions Christmas at all: no Santa, no tree, just a sleigh crash and a dating tip.

White Christmas by Bing Crosby — Irving Berlin's White Christmas, sung by Bing Crosby, has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide — Guinness lists it as the best-selling single ever recorded.

Austria — Written as Stille Nacht by Joseph Mohr with music by Franz Xaver Gruber, it premiered at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria — performed on guitar, by some accounts because the church organ was out of order.

1994 — Recorded for the album Merry Christmas, it took 25 years to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 — finally reaching the top in December 2019, and returning every December since.

Jingle Bells — In December 1965, Gemini 6 astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford reported a mysterious object piloted by a jolly figure — then played Jingle Bells on a smuggled harmonica and sleigh bells.

Five gold rings — The five gold rings are the song's melodic showstopper. Count every gift across all twelve days and the true love delivers 364 presents in total.

Wham! — George Michael wrote, produced, and played nearly everything on the track. It finally reached UK number one in January 2021, 36 years after release — and inspired the game Whamageddon, where players try to avoid hearing it each December.

Gene Autry — The singing cowboy's version hit number one and sold millions. The song was written by Johnny Marks, whose brother-in-law Robert L. May had created Rudolph for a store promotion a decade earlier.

José Feliciano — The Puerto Rican guitarist recorded it in 1970, deliberately keeping the lyrics simple in both Spanish and English so everyone could sing along. It remains a holiday radio staple more than half a century later.

Ukraine — Composer Mykola Leontovych arranged the Ukrainian new-year chant Shchedryk, first performed in Kyiv in 1916; English lyrics added in 1936 turned it into Carol of the Bells — and into Hollywood's favorite ominous Christmas music.

A shepherd's crook — Tradition links the shape to shepherds' crooks from the Nativity story — and flipped upside down it forms a J. The oldest documented candy canes were plain white; the red stripes arrived around 1900.

Germany — German bakers popularized elaborate lebkuchen houses in the early 1800s after the Brothers Grimm published Hansel and Gretel, with its irresistible witch's cottage made of treats.

Christmas pudding — Also called plum pudding despite containing no plums — plums was the old word for raisins. Traditions include hiding a silver coin inside for luck and making a wish while stirring the batter.

Japan — A 1974 Kentucky for Christmas marketing campaign turned KFC into Japan's Christmas dinner of choice. Millions of families now order their holiday buckets weeks in advance.

Fruitcake — Dense with sugar, dried fruit, and often alcohol, fruitcake genuinely keeps for months or years. Johnny Carson joked there was only one fruitcake in the world, endlessly re-gifted — and Manitou Springs, Colorado holds an annual Fruitcake Toss.

Milk and cookies — The American milk-and-cookies custom took hold during the Great Depression as a lesson in sharing. Elsewhere Santa does better: sherry and mince pies in Britain, and a beer in parts of Australia — plus carrots for the reindeer.

Italian — Rooted in the southern Italian custom of avoiding meat on Christmas Eve, the multi-course seafood feast became a beloved Italian-American tradition — the number seven carries religious symbolism, though families' fish counts vary freely.

Actual minced meat — Medieval mince pies mixed shredded meat with suet, dried fruit, and spices. The meat gradually disappeared over the centuries, leaving the sweet, spiced fruit filling — mincemeat — that fills them today.

Goose — The Cratchits' goose in A Christmas Carol was the typical choice for ordinary families. Turkey — a New World import — was the aspirational upgrade, which is why reformed Scrooge sends the family a prize turkey.

Milan, Italy — The domed loaf is Milan's signature Christmas export, hanging to cool upside down to keep its airy height. Italians debate panettone versus its Veronese rival pandoro every December.

Turkey — Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Lycia, on the Mediterranean coast of modern Turkey. Famed for secret gift-giving, his December 6 feast day kept his legend alive across Europe for centuries.

Sinterklaas — Dutch settlers brought Sinterklaas to New Amsterdam — later New York — where the name was anglicized into Santa Claus. Kris Kringle, by contrast, comes from the German Christkindl, the Christ child.

Coca-Cola — Nast drew Santa for Harper's Weekly from the 1860s; Haddon Sundblom's Coca-Cola paintings from 1931 onward spread the warm red-suited version worldwide. Coke did not invent Santa's red suit — but it made that Santa universal.

Eight — Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen — the last two spelled Dunder and Blixem in the earliest 1823 printing. Rudolph is not one of them; he was invented 116 years later for a department store coloring book.

Montgomery Ward — Copywriter Robert L. May created Rudolph for Montgomery Ward's holiday giveaway — 2.4 million copies distributed the first year. His brother-in-law Johnny Marks later turned the story into the hit song.

A misprinted phone number in a store ad — A Sears ad in Colorado Springs misprinted a Santa hotline number that rang the Continental Air Defense Command instead. Colonel Harry Shoup had his staff report Santa's position to calling children — and the tradition never stopped.

The North Pole — Thomas Nast's cartoons planted Santa at the North Pole in the 1860s — usefully belonging to no nation. Finland counters that he really lives in Lapland, where the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi receives half a million letters a year.

La Befana — La Befana flies on her broomstick on the night of January 5, filling stockings with sweets for good children and coal for naughty ones — she is said to have declined the Magi's invitation to Bethlehem and has been searching for the child ever since.

Krampus — Krampus night, December 5, still sees costumed Krampus runs through Austrian and Bavarian towns. Belsnickel and Knecht Ruprecht are gentler German enforcers — The Office fans know Dwight's Belsnickel well.

A lump of coal — Coal was the classic threat in American and British tradition — conveniently right there by the chimney. Other cultures use potatoes, onions, or twigs; in Italy, La Befana's coal is now usually black rock candy.

1965 — CBS executives worried the special was too slow, too religious, and too jazzy. It drew nearly half the American viewing audience, won an Emmy, and made Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack a holiday classic.

Boris Karloff — The horror icon best known as Frankenstein's monster gave the Grinch his silky menace. Thurl Ravenscroft — the voice of Tony the Tiger — sang You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, uncredited.

Rankin/Bass — Rankin/Bass built a Christmas empire in Animagic stop motion — Rudolph, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Frosty and more. Rudolph remains the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in American television history — telecast every year since 1964.

An old silk hat — The magician Professor Hinkle's discarded top hat does the trick, prompting Frosty's first words: Happy Birthday! The 1969 special was animated by Rankin/Bass in traditional cel style rather than stop motion.

A Christmas Story — TNT and TBS have run 24 Hours of A Christmas Story since 1997 — twelve consecutive showings of Ralphie's quest for a Red Ryder BB gun from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day.

New York — WPIX aired a looping film of a fireplace so apartment-dwelling New Yorkers could have a hearth on Christmas morning. It was an instant institution and has inspired countless streaming successors.

The Simpsons — Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was the very first full-length Simpsons episode — Homer moonlights as a mall Santa and the family adopts the racing greyhound Santa's Little Helper.

Max — Max, drafted into service as a one-antlered reindeer, is the silent hero of every Grinch adaptation — Dr. Seuss gave him no dialogue, but animators gave him all the best reactions.

Countdown to Christmas — Launched in 2009, Countdown to Christmas now premieres dozens of original holiday movies each year starting in October — a formula so reliable it reshaped the TV-movie industry. 25 Days of Christmas is the rival banner on Freeform.

Doctor Who — From 2005's The Christmas Invasion onward, the Doctor Who Christmas special became a BBC One holiday fixture, with the Doctor battling everything from killer Christmas trees to robot Santas.

Joyeux Noel — Noel derives from the Latin natalis — birth. Feliz Navidad is Spanish, Buon Natale Italian, and Frohe Weihnachten German — worth knowing all four for the family quiz.

A romantic day for couples, not a national holiday — With a tiny Christian population, Japan treats December 25 like Valentine's Day — couples book fancy dinners and exchange gifts, and the day is a normal working day. New Year is the big family holiday.

Spider web — The legend of the Christmas spider tells of a poor family whose tree was decorated overnight by spiders, the webs turning to silver and gold at first light — so web ornaments bring good luck.

Yule Lads — One Yule Lad arrives each night for 13 nights, with names like Spoon-Licker and Door-Slammer, leaving small gifts in shoes — while their mother Gryla and the giant Yule Cat menace the badly behaved.

Mexico — From December 16 to 24, processions go door to door singing for entry, ending each night with prayer, food, and pinatas. The nine nights represent the nine months of Mary's pregnancy.

The Philippines — In the Philippines, the ber months — September through December — mean four months of Christmas music, parol star lanterns, and the Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando, the Christmas Capital of the Philippines.

Is beaten with sticks until it 'poops' out presents — The caga tio, a smiling log in a red hat, is fed scraps for weeks. On Christmas, children whack it with sticks while singing until it delivers turron and small gifts from under its blanket. Catalonia commits to the bit.

A goat — The Gavle Goat stands over 40 feet tall — and despite guards and cameras, arsonists have burned it down more than 30 times. Whether the goat survives to New Year is an annual national drama.

Summer — Southern Hemisphere Christmas means beach barbecues, cricket in the yard, and Santa in board shorts. Many families celebrate a second Christmas in July to get the cozy winter version.

Germany — German Christkindlesmarkts date to the late Middle Ages — Nuremberg's is world-famous — and printed Advent calendars appeared in early 1900s Germany. Gluhwein, stollen, and nutcrackers complete the export list.

Mexico — Named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US minister to Mexico, who sent cuttings home in the 1820s. In Mexico it is the flor de Nochebuena — the Christmas Eve flower. Its red 'petals' are actually leaves called bracts.

Holly — Evergreen holly symbolized life in midwinter long before Christianity, which later read the prickly leaves as a crown of thorns and the berries as drops of blood — hence The Holly and the Ivy.

Norse and Germanic peoples — Yule was the Germanic midwinter festival; an enormous log burned for days to defy the darkness. The word survives in yuletide, the log in the French buche de Noel cake — and on looping fireplace broadcasts.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — It premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892 to mixed reviews. American productions from the 1950s onward turned it into the December cash engine of nearly every ballet company on Earth.

England — London confectioner Tom Smith created them in the 1840s, inspired by French bonbon wrappers, adding the snap after watching a crackling fire. The tissue crown, terrible joke, and tiny toy remain mandatory.

2005 — Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell self-published the book with its accompanying elf, based on their family tradition. Within a decade it was moving millions of elves — and generating millions of parental staging ideas.

St. Francis of Assisi — Francis staged a living Nativity with real animals in a cave at Greccio, Italy, to bring the Bethlehem story to life for villagers. The creche tradition spread through Europe and to the world from there.

Real silver — Invented in Germany around 1610, tinsel was shredded genuine silver — beautiful, expensive, and prone to tarnish. Modern PVC tinsel arrived after mid-century lead versions were phased out for safety.

Eternity, having no beginning or end — An unbroken evergreen circle stands for eternal life through the dead of winter. Advent wreaths add four candles, one lit each Sunday of December's countdown.

Christmas jumpers — The ironic ugly-sweater party is credited with starting in Vancouver in 2002, though Christmas jumpers owe their fame to 1980s TV hosts and Colin Firth's reindeer number in Bridget Jones's Diary. Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day made them charitable.

364 — Each day's gifts repeat cumulatively: 12 partridges, 22 turtle doves, and so on. The grand total is 364 — one gift short of a full year. Economists at PNC price the full haul annually as the Christmas Price Index.

50 million — Guinness World Records estimates Bing Crosby's 1942 recording at 50 million copies sold worldwide — a record considered essentially unbreakable in the streaming era.

25 to 30 million — The National Christmas Tree Association counts 25-30 million real trees sold annually, from around 15,000 US farms. A typical tree grows about seven years before harvest.

The 1930s — Depression-era construction workers put up the first modest tree in 1931; the first formal tree-lighting ceremony came in 1933. Today's tree carries some 50,000 LED lights and a Swarovski star.

25 years — Released in 1994, Mariah Carey's juggernaut summited in December 2019 — and has returned to number one every December since, earning her the title Queen of Christmas.

Australia — Captain William Mynors named it on Christmas Day 1643. The Indian Ocean island is famous for its annual red crab migration, when tens of millions of crabs swarm to the sea.

Over 200 feet — Guinness records a roughly 221-foot Douglas fir displayed at Seattle's Northgate Shopping Center in December 1950 — a record that has stood for three quarters of a century. Rockefeller Center's famous tree is usually a modest 75 to 80 feet.

Four — Everyone remembers the three ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come — but Jacob Marley's chained ghost comes first, making four spirits in all.

7 years — Most firs and spruces need roughly seven years of growing, shearing, and shaping to reach the classic 6-7 foot size — some varieties take up to 15.

January 7 — The 13-day gap between the Julian and Gregorian calendars lands Julian-calendar Christmas on January 7 — observed in Russia, Serbia, Ethiopia, and elsewhere. Ukraine officially moved its Christmas to December 25 in 2023.

1843 — Dickens wrote it in about six weeks, self-published it in time for Christmas, and sold out the first printing in days. It has never been out of print and largely defined the modern sentimental Christmas.

Jacob Marley — Marley, dead seven years to the night, drags a chain forged in life of cash-boxes, ledgers, and deeds — and warns Scrooge that three spirits will follow. Bob Cratchit is the living clerk; Fezziwig the jolly old boss.

Tiny Tim — Tim Cratchit offers the blessing at Christmas dinner, and Dickens repeats it as the book's final line. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows a future where Tim dies — but the redeemed Scrooge becomes a second father to him, and Dickens says plainly that Tiny Tim did NOT die.

Dr. Seuss — Theodor Geisel wrote it at 53, later admitting the grumpy anti-Christmas Grinch was partly himself — his license plate read GRINCH. The book, special, and films made it the definitive redemption tale after Dickens.

E.T.A. Hoffmann — Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is considerably darker than the ballet — Alexandre Dumas' gentler French adaptation is what Tchaikovsky's team actually used.

The New York Sun — Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote to ask if Santa was real; editor Francis Pharcellus Church's unsigned reply became the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language.

Chris Van Allsburg — Van Allsburg — also the author of Jumanji — won the Caldecott Medal for its haunting pastel art. The bell that only believers can hear became one of modern Christmas literature's best-loved symbols.

It grew three sizes — When Christmas came to Whoville without a single package, box or bag, the Grinch's undersized heart grew three sizes that day — and he himself carved the roast beast.

Sell their most prized possession to buy the other's gift — Della sells her hair to buy a watch chain; Jim sells his watch to buy combs for her hair. The 1905 story's ironic ending made it the definitive tale about the spirit of giving.

Raymond Briggs — Briggs' 1978 book became the 1982 animated short that British television has aired every Christmas since — a boy, a flying snowman, and one of the most quietly devastating endings in children's animation.