Welcome to another installment of Christmas in quarantine.

It's Christmas Past's impromptu miniseries of indeterminate length.

I'm publishing one new episode each day until things are looking better on the COVID-19 crisis.

Now, if you're listening in real time, you'll know that the federal social distancing

guidelines were just extended through the end of April. So, it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of

each other for at least another month. Though these things change pretty quickly, so who knows for

sure. One thing you might be doing to keep busy these days is playing games.

Me, I'm always up for a good game of Christmas trivia, and luckily, so were a couple of my Christmassy friends.

But before we get to that, I hope, as always, that you are staying safe and healthy, that

you're practicing all of the common sense guidelines and taking your advice only from

trained medical professionals, and, of course,

treating the situation with the seriousness it deserves. Now, you are about to join in on a devious

twist on Christmas trivia. Todd Killian from Christmas clatter and Jerry Davila from the

forthcoming podcast Totally Rad Christmas joined me to play a game of two truths and a lie.

We'll take turns presenting three related Christmas tidbits and trying to separate fact from fiction.

Play along with us and see how you do.

I'll come back at the end to say goodbye, but for now, let's put your Christmas spirit and your lie-detecting skills to the test with me, Todd, and Jerry.

And we're going to begin now. Your first question has to do with Ivy.

Now, you guys both know as students of Christmas history that the Christmas tree is a fairly recent addition

to the celebration of Christmas. It was only since about 1870 that the average American household

had a Christmas tree. And before that, most American homes and other homes that celebrated Christmas

would put up other greenery, mostly holly, ivy, and mistletoe. And that even predates Christmas. The Romans

...