Need a Little Christmas? Here are 12 questions to help set the mood

Because no one wants to read about politics on Christmas Day, years ago when the holiday fell on a Sunday, Spin Control started to offer up bits of Christmas trivia for readers who pick up the paper sometime between the kids waking up before dawn and everyone passing out after a big dinner with too much to eat and drink. It became a holiday tradition, even when Christmas doesn’t fall on Sunday.

Here, then, is our annual 12 Trivia questions of Christmas, one for each day in the song.

1. Why were Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem when Jesus was born?

A. Their home in Nazareth was flooded when the Dead Sea rose

B. They were celebrating Hanukkah with their family

C. They had to register for taxes

D. Joseph had a job there

2. One of the oldest Christmas songs is “Here We Come A-wassailing.” What’s a wassail?

A. A cookie

B. A small gift

C. A minced pie

D. An alcoholic drink

3. In the song “Santa Baby” what color is the car the singer asks for?

A. White

B. Blue

C. Red

D. Gold

4. What was the last Christmas song to win an Oscar for Best Original Song?

A. White Christmas

B. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

C. We Need a Little Christmas

D. I’ll Be Home For Christmas

5. Who wants dolls that can walk and talk in “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”?

A. Alice and Anne

B. Barbie and Belle

C. Janice and Jen

D. Mary and Mae

6. What military award does George Bailey’s brother Harry receive in “It’s a Wonderful Life”?

A. Purple Heart

B. Silver Star

C. Navy Cross

D. Medal of Honor

7.What newspaper first published the editorial “Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus”?

A. New York Sun

B. New York Times

C. New York Post

D. New York Herald Tribune

8. What was the first animated Christmas special on American television?

A. “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

B. “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”

C. “Claymation Christmas”

D. “Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol”

9. After orbiting the moon, what book of the Bible did the astronauts from Apollo 8 read from on Christmas Eve 1968?

A. Genesis

B. Matthew

C. Luke

D. Revelations

10. In what country did the tradition of the Christmas Nativity scene originate?

A. France

B. Italy

C. Spain

D. Portugal

11. If you were giving your true love a partridge in a pair tree on the traditional first day of Christmas when would they get it?

A. Dec. 13

B. Dec. 14

C. Dec. 24

D. Dec. 25

12. Who was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in the year 800?

A. William the Conqueror

B. Maximillian I

C. Charlemagne

D. Louis I

Answers

1. C. According to the Bible Caesar Augustus had ordered a census so the empire could be taxed

2. D. Traditionally, it’s a spiked milk punch or egg nog

3. B “A ’54 convertible, too, light blue”

4. A OK, that’s a little tricky because White Christmas is the only one to win an Oscar, so it was also the first.

5. C An alliterative pair to rhyme with “Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.”

6. D. Harry received it for shooting down two kamikaze planes before they crashed into a troop ship.

7. A Virginia said her father told her if you read it in the Sun, it must be true.

8. D. Magoo Carol was in 1962, Charlie Brown in 1963 and Rudolph in 1964

9. A They read from Genesis about the first three days of creation.

10. B. Tradition says that St. Francis of Assisi set up the first scene in Greccio with people and live animals. The figures came later.

11. D. In the traditional Christian ecclesiastical calendar, when that song originates, the 12 days start on Dec. 25 and go until Jan.5, the day before Epiphany,

12. Charlemagne, or Charles the great, was one of many European rulers who combined their corination with Christmas Day.

Scoring

0-2 Scrooge before Marley’s ghost arrives

3-5 Charlie Brown talking with Lucy the psychiatrist

6-8 Scrooge after the visit of the Ghost of Christmas Past

9-11 Linus explaining the meaning of Christmas

12 Grinch after his heart grows three sizes