Christmas factoids from Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable's Music Plus Traditional Holiday Tunes station is beyond awesome.  In addition to the really great music, they also publish onscreen holiday trivia.  Here are some things I've learned from them:

• Christmas carols were created as a way to tell the story of the nativity to people who couldn't read.
• The Christmas classic The Nutcracker was a flop when it was first performed. (Note: This is also true of It's a Wonderful Life - it was a failure at the box office, only to become a "classic" years later.)
• Santa Claus was pictured as an elf until Coca-Cola began picturing him as a full-sized person in their ads.
• The rush for Christmas shopping began in World War II when it was necessary to mail gifts early to troops overseas. 
• According to weather records, the states with the best chances of having a white Christmas are Michigan, Minnesota and Washington. 
• The tradition of tinsel is based on a legend about spiders whose webs turned to silver when spun in a Christmas tree.
• The minimum size requirement for Rockefeller Center's Christmas tree is 65 feet high and 35 feet wide.
• Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been filmed more than 200 times.
• Jack Nicholson was originally considered for the role of Ralphie's Old Man in A Christmas Story.

Exactly three weeks until the big day!