Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

"Jingle Bells" was the first song played in space. It's hard to imagine what you'd want to rock out to if you were to ever float among the stars. But the crew of NASA's Gemini 6A space flight got into the Christmas spirit and made history when they played "Jingle Bells" on December 16, 1965, earning the jolly jingle the Guinness World Record for being the first song ever played in space.

The Christmas tree pickle is a tradition to keep eager kids calm on Christmas morning. According to Today, the Christmas pickle is more than just a common ornament, it's a tradition. As the quirky tradition goes, the first child to find the glass pickle hidden in the tree on Christmas morning either wins a prize or the privilege of opening the first gift. The goal? To keep kids from rushing through the process of opening presents, and instead take the time to enjoy each one.

Eggnog dates back to medieval times. Eggnog is a signature beverage of the holiday season, and one that has a history dating all the way back to medieval times and a drink called "posset." Made with sweetened and spiced milk curdled with ale or wine and served hot, according to Healthline, monks in the 13th century "enjoyed this mixture with the addition of eggs and figs."

Tinsel was once made of real silver. Throwing some tinsel on your Christmas tree is a quick and inexpensive way to jazz up your holiday décor, and has been for years. However, it used to be a much pricier adornment. According to the BBC, tinsel has its origins in the early 1600s in Nuremberg, Germany, where people "used thin strands of real silver in their trees to reflect candlelight, as they used to put real candles in their trees." And since silver was expensive, being able to use tinsel in your tree was something of a status symbol.

The largest gingerbread house ever made was as big as a real house. If you think that putting together a regular-sized gingerbread house is tricky, try making one that's big enough to walk into. In November 2013, a group from Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas, constructed a gingerbread house that was 160 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 10.1 feet tall. Made with a wood base, it reportedly took 1,800 pounds of butter, 7,200 eggs, 3,000 pounds of sugar, 7,200 pounds of flour, and over 22,000 pieces of candy to cover the record-breaking structure!