Christmas Eve is a big deal for religious reasons, such as the midnight mass, and also for retail reasons. 1867 was the first year that Macy's department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve.
A HowStuffWorks reader was also kind enough to point out the following: "All Jewish holidays start at sundown the evening before (not at calendar midnight). Our holidays start with ceremony the evening before: rituals, candle-lighting, whatever... at sundown and they last until the following sundown, and then they're over."
For Scandinavians, the goddess of love (Frigga) is strongly associated with mistletoe. This link to romance may be where our tradition of kissing under mistletoe comes from.
Christmas cards started in London in 1843 and in America in 1846.
Lots of people send out holiday greeting cards to friends and family at Christmas time.
Today, about two billion Christmas cards are exchanged every year in the United States.
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