You’ve made your gingerbread house or your gingerbread cookies. You’ve put up your Christmas lights and your Christmas tree. You’ve bought a few gifts, found a pretty good travel deal and you’re already packed for your holiday trip to see loved ones. Your family has already decided what Christmas movies to watch and what winter-themed music to play. But while you’re admiring other people’s Christmas decorations and looking forward to what’s to come, how well do you actually know Christmas history? Here are 10 trivia questions with answers that may surprise (or stump) you.

Find the answers to these Christmas trivia questions at the end of the post. Once you’re done, feel free to run these by your holiday guests to get a conversation started and see who really knows their stuff.

1. In 1419, a guild in Freiburg, Germany, put up a “paradise tree” decorated with what?

A. Pipe cleaners

B. Yarn

C. Plums

D. Apples

2. On average, during the COVID-19 pandemic, what percentage of Christmas trees were artificial versus live in the U.S.?

A. 84% artificial, 16% live

B. 75% artificial, 25% live

C. 45% artificial, 55% live

D. 28% artificial, 72% live

3. Before Christmas cookies became a symbol of the “eucharistic host,” what other snack food was hung on trees?

A. Peppermint sticks

B. Potato chips

C. Wafers

D. Pretzels

4. In the 1890s, Woolworth (a store that sold items for $0.10 or less) was making how much in earnings for Christmas ornaments?

A. $100,000

B. $10 million

C. $25 million

D. $45 million

5. Mariah Carey was waiting for a Christmas wish to come true in “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Where was she waiting?

A. On the front porch

B. Near the Christmas tree

C. Under the mistletoe

D. Next to the Christmas cookie table

6. Who was Marvin Gaye’s song “I Want to Come Home for Christmas” a tribute to?

A. Prisoners of war (POW) in Vietnam

B. Roe v. Wade

C. 1973 Oil Crisis

D. Watergate Scandal

7. In the 2007 movie This Christmas, what song did Chris Brown’s character Michael “Baby” Whitfield sing onstage, to the amazement of his family?

A. “O Holy Night / Silent Night”

B. “Try a Little Tenderness”

C. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”

D. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

8. What did Franklin Armstong lecture Charlie Brown about in It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown?

A. Animal rights

B. Jesus’ birth date

C. Homelessness

D. Commercialization

9. Abolitionist Harriet Tubman heard her three brothers were going to be sold by their owner the day after Christmas in 1854. What state did SHE depart FROM to free her brothers before the purchase was complete?

A. Georgia

B. Pennsylvania

C. Alabama

D. Mississippi

10. In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “A Christmas Sermon On Peace,” what topic did he discuss?

A. Russians, Chinese and Vietnamese people as “brothers”

B. Birmingham, Alabama church bombing

C. Lambs and lions lying together

D. All of the above

ANSWERS: 1. D (Source), 2. A (Source), 3. C (Source), 4. C (Source), 5. C (Source), 6. A (Source), 7. B (Source), 8. D (Source), 9. B (Source), 10. D (Source)

Quiz

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