A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions

For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas. We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away, Christ." Nor do we know that Christmas was first celebrated in 243 AD on March 28—and only moved to December 25 in 354 AD. We're oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of Christmas crackers was merely a way of popularizing sweet wrappers. Luckily, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense—in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way.

• The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
• The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase
• A Short History of Drunkenness: How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present
• Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language
• Christmas: A Biography
• The Unknown Unknown
• The Book of Christmas: Everything We Once Knew and Loved About Christmastime
• Christmas: A Candid History
• Dictionary of Word Origins: The Histories of More Than 8,000 English-Language Words
• Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas