1. No closer than second cousin. Luke tells us John's mother Elizabeth was Mary's cousin.

2. Caesar Augustus.

3. Constantine in 325 A.D.

4. They journeyed 92.5 miles.

5. In Whoville.

6. Sitting beside the fire, he read aloud the Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol," exuberantly acting out all the parts.

7. A Christmas fruit cake.

8. "Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree."

9. An "invisibility cloak."

10. Yes. He depicted Grandma Moses among the friends and family greeting a boy returning from college in "Christmas Homecoming," a 1948 Saturday Evening Post cover.

11. The fall of the Berlin wall.

12. The New York Sun. A famous editorial on Sept. 21, 1897, by Francis P. Church answered a letter by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon. The paper ceased publication in 1950.

13. The ancient Norse associated mistletoe with their goddess of love.

14. To Christians, the berries are symbolic of Christ's blood, and the thorny leaves suggest the thorns in His crown.

15. Dr Joel Poinsett, the first US ambassador to Mexico, brought the plant back in 1828. Mexicans had long revered poinsettia because it resembled the Star of Bethlehem.

16. True. The Puritans considered Christmas trees and decorations to be pagan, and outlawed them in Massachusetts until 1859.

17. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a move to help out Depression-strained retailers. Since 1859 Thanksgiving had been celebrated on Nov. 30, but in 1939 FDR declared the holiday to be the fourth Thursday in November (Nov. 23 of that yea\). Two years later, FDR signed a bill making the move permanent and official.

18. False. The Bible never mentions a specific date for the Nativity.

19. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. May wrote the lyrics as copy for a Montgomery Ward department store giveaway. In 1947 it was set to music, and recorded by Gene Autrey.

20. "Meet Me in St. Louis". Judy Garland sang the song in the film version.

21. "Charlie Brown Christmas" debuted on CBS. One of the very first animated Christmas TV specials, the show has aired every Christmas since.

22. After achieving the first manned lunar orbit, the crew of Apollo 8 celebrated Christmas Eve by reading from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. The event was broadcast around the world.

23. Boris Karloff, star of "Frankenstein" and other horror classics.

24. None of these songs mentions Christmas.

25. A true Christmas carol has to have a religious theme.

25. "O Tannenbaum"

26. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" -- one of the most popular songs of all time. The movie "White Christmas", starring Crosby and Danny Kaye, didn't debut until 1954. It was the first movie to be made in Vista Vision, a deep-focus process.

27. Child singer Jimmy Boyd was 12 years and 11 months old when he sang the Christmas favorite, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." The song hit the top of the pop charts.

28. Queen Elizabeth's Christmas message to the nation was televised for the first time on December 25, 1957.

29. Formally called Kiritimati, Christmas Island is in the Indian Ocean.

30. True. America's official national Christmas tree is located in King's Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the "General Grant Tree," is over 300 feet high. It was made the official Christmas tree in 1925.

33. True. More diamonds are purchased at Christmas -time (31 percent) than during any other holiday or occasion during the year.

34. On Christmas Day, 1989, Eastern Europe was permitted to celebrate Christmas freely and openly for the first time in decades. Church masses were broadcast live for the first time in history.

35. In 1947, Toys for Tots started making the holidays a little happier for children by organizing its first Christmas toy drive for needy youngsters.

36. In an effort to solicit cash to pay for a charity Christmas dinner in 1891, a large crabpot was set down on a San Francisco street, becoming the first Salvation Army collection kettle.