XMAS

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Did you know that? In Gubbio, Italy, the largest Christmas tree in the world is located, which is lit every December 7. This record, registered in the Guinness Book, was set in 1981 on Mount Ingino, which rises above the city. The tree boasts about 700 light elements of different shapes and colors, reaching a height of more than 750 meters and covering a surface area of 130,000 square meters. Its unique structure extends to the medieval walls of the city, and its star at the mountaintop reaches the height of the Basilica of Sant'Ubaldo, making it an impressive symbol of Christmas in the region.

 Interesting Facts - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is famous for his eponymous Christmas tune and for using his luminous nose to heroically guide Santa Claus through the dense snow and fog on Christmas Eve. But originally, Rudolph was created as part of an ad campaign to guide Chicago area customers into department stores. Montgomery Ward was a retailer known for releasing Christmas-themed promotional coloring books in the 1930s to attract shoppers. After years of buying and distributing books made elsewhere, it opted to cut costs by designing a book of its own in 1939. The retailer enlisted the help of copywriter Robert L. May to conceive a new story, and thus, Rudolph was born.

According to the fact-checking site Snopes, May was inspired by the story of the “Ugly Duckling” and decided to create a character that was similarly ostracized for his physical appearance. He was also influenced by the fact that reindeer had been associated with Christmas as far back as the early 19th century. May settled on a reindeer with a glowing red nose, and at first considered names such as Rollo (which he later said in a 1963 interview was “too happy”) and Reginald (“too sophisticated”); Rudolph, however, “rolled off the tongue nicely.”