Introduction
‘Did you know that…’
It is almost that time of the year again. Thanksgiving, the start of the holiday season, is here and families will gather and remind each other to be thankful for their lives and for what they have. Then, a mere month later, Christmas will be upon us.
For recovering addicts, it is not always the ‘most wonderful time of the year.’ Instead, many people feel overwhelmed and burnt-out between costly gift-giving, complicated family relationships, and other social obligations.
We thought to put together a light-hearted blog that can help you during this time of year. Memorize these fun holiday trivia facts for when you find yourself in a tight spot.
It might just lighten the mood and turn the focus away from you. Preparation is key!
Use these where appropriate.
- Christmas trees: More than 95 million households put up Christmas trees in their homes, a whopping 77% of all Americans.
- Xmas: ‘Xmas’ is not a shortened version of ‘Christmas’ as you might think. It actually harks back to the mid-1500s and the Greek letter X, the first letter in the Greek word for 'Christ.'
- Holiday shopping: Americans spend about $950 per person on holiday gifts – and the total Christmas shopping basket of the nation is more than $1 trillion.
- Christmas cards are still very much alive! Over 1.6 billion cards are sold from stores around Christmas, and we did not even count handmade cards or those sent digitally. Covid-19 caused a surge of holiday card sending in 2020 as people thought their friends and family needed extra cheer.
- Jingle bells is not a Christmas song. James Pierpont wrote it for the Thanksgiving program at his father's church.
- Coca-Cola for Christmas. The Coca-Cola company played a role in making red and green popular Christmas colors. It was all because of an ad and a red suit-wearing Santa in 1931.
- Speaking of Santa… It will take Santa about five ‘earth minutes’ to distribute all his presents, providing that he travels at the speed of light and has his elves help him.
- Who first made gingerbread men? Queen Elizabeth I first envisioned a series of gingerbread cookies to impress a group of visitors to her palace. So, she asked the baker to make the cookies look like each visitor.
- Traditionally, people put an angel on the top of a Christmas tree.
- The movie ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ was based on the real-life department store, Macy’s.
- The highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time was Home Alone.
- How do you say Merry Christmas in Spanish? Feliz Navidad.
Conclusion
There is no shame in being prepared.
To be a recovering addict is hard. Rehab was just a starting point. The work to successful recovery takes a day-by-day focus to avoid relapse.
There is no shame in preparing for social gatherings. In fact, practicing what you are going to say and having a plan is a great idea.
Why not use our fun facts about the holiday season to turn around a potentially awkward moment? We meant it to be tongue in the cheek, but we hope it helps!
Remember, here at Largest Heart is a lot of resources to be explored. Our mission is to educate and enlighten – also about other more serious topics.
Resources
https://parade.com/943457/parade/christmas-trivia/
https://www.countryliving.com/life/g23461993/christmas-trivia/