Do you know these holiday-themed nature facts?

Unlike the variety one might hang above their doorway, Canada’s native mistletoe species are “obligate” tree parasites; they grow on live branches and stems, and in some cases, kill the tree. Most don’t produce green leaves or attractive berries, and, as a result, are not terribly appealing to look at. Probably nobody would want to make out under a sprig of the stuff.

Spider’s thread may have been an inspiration for tinsel. Sort of. Apparently, a European folk tale tells the story of a poor family who can't afford decorations for their tree, so benevolent spiders pitch in by decorating the branches with silvery strands of their own thread. Er..thanks?

No real reindeer (a.k.a. caribou) has a red, glowing nose to help it find its way through a snowstorm. But caribou living in the Canadian Arctic do have a way to see well in the dark. In the darkest period of winter, a layer of cells behind a reindeer’s retinas will change from gold to blue, making the eye more sensitive to the low light conditions.

You know the line about the gift of the “four calling birds” in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”? The original verse (in the 1780 version of the carol) was “four colly birds.” Colly is a word that means “coal-black.” So, the gifted birds may have been blackbirds. Or birds with black feathers. Or…birds covered in coal dust?

The first record of the Coca-Cola Company using polar bears in its advertising was in 1922, in France. Because why not, right? But the first polar bear TV commercial (“Northern Lights”) appeared in 1993. In it—in case you’ve forgotten, or in case you weren’t alive at the time—a crowd of polar bears watches the aurora borealis play across the sky. The company went on to feature polar bears in many more holiday-themed TV ads.

The speed at which snow melts can vary depending on a number of factors, including air temperature. That said, according to physics, it should have taken Frosty the Snowman eight hours to melt completely in the 1969 TV movie (based on the song). Except, following the film's rough timeline, he melts in a mere five hours. In other words, he defies the laws of physics by dying. And then, well, the laws of everything by coming back to life.

Toadstools (a.k.a. fly agaric) are probably the only mushrooms associated with the holiday season. You can still spot them—at least in some parts of Canada—as late as early winter; they often sprout under aspens, birches, oaks, or evergreens. Unlike mistletoe, they form symbiotic relationships with the trees, supplying them with nutrients in exchange for sugars. Now that’s the holiday spirit!