My 12 Days of Christmas Trivia has come to an end. I’ve had a lot of fun finding little-known facts and trivia about Christmas. I hope you had fun reading them too.
This last bit of Christmas trivia is good to remember all year long since it is health-related. It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers. I read this on several websites but couldn’t find the actual source to verify it but if you’re like most families, there was lots of food set out during the holidays. Everyone seems to take more time eating holiday meals than regular meals any other day of the year so food sits on the table or counter a lot longer. Then there are the people who like to keep eating all day long so some munchies sit out for hours. But how long should food be left out before it starts to go bad?
This ABC News/Health story explains how to tell if food has gone bad and how long you should keep leftovers. It’s good to remember all year long, not just during the holidays.
My parents have a saying, “When in doubt, throw it out” because it’s better to be safe than sorry. And who would want to get sick between Christmas and New Years just because you ate some bad leftovers or food that set out too long? Even your favorite leftover turkey or stuffing wouldn’t be worth it. And if you’re not sure if it’s spoiled or not, please don’t feed it to your pets either.
Happy New Year to everyone! Eat healthy!
If you missed any of my 12 Days of Christmas Trivia, just scroll down to read the rest.
But maybe the joke isn’t that far off – well, at least as far as whether they are male or female. According to the 
Ever thought about eating a Christmas tree? Well, don’t. The needles from certain types of pine trees are actually poisonous although I don’t know why someone would want to try eating one anyway. But you can make a pine needle tea from the Eastern White Pine tree and it’s actually healthy for you because it’s high in vitamin C but I bet it tastes like eating grass.
The top Christmas tree producing states are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington. Oregon tops the list of Most Trees Harvested, Most Acreage of Tree Farms, and Most Sales of Operations.
When someone says berries, we think of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc and they are all really good to eat. But there are many berries that are poisonous. One of them is the holly berry that we associate with Christmas. Eating more than three holly berries can cause severe and prolonged nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as drowsiness.