December/Xmas 2019 quiz

Rules
1. No use of online search engines (Google etc) or online encyclopedias (Wikipedia etc)
2. One point for each correct answer (unless otherwise specified), half a point is given for inventive and humorous answers, yup make Mike titter and you get an extra half point so guess away *Also see note at the end of the post.
3. Have fun

PM entries to me by New Year 2020.

1. What name is given to a circle of evergreen with five candles, of which the white one in the middle is lit on Christmas Day?
2. For Christmas to be officially recognised to be "white", how many snowflakes need to fall on the Met Office roof in London?
3. First invented in Ancient China, what did the Hallmark company popularise in the 1920's?
4. Which gemstone is purchased more during the Christmas season than at any other time of the year?
5. What are the three traditional colours of Christmas (one point each)?
6. Who in 1847, invented the first Christmas crackers (what a cracker of a question that is )?
7. Which vegetable is celebrated in Mexico on the day before Christmas Eve, and has Nativity scenes carved out of them?
8. What was the name of Bob Cratchit's youngest son in "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens?
9. Which ancient civilisation cultivated the poinsettia?
10. On which date is the last of Christmas?
11. The story of the Nativity is told in which two New Testament Gospels (one point each)?
12. Which biblical character had her baby before Mary after many barren years?
13. Who sent out a decree for all citizens to return to their home town for a census?
14. To the nearest 10 miles (16km), how far did Mary & Joseph walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem?
15. Mary placed baby Jesus in a cattle trough, how is the cattle trough usually referred to?
16. Which two animals are commonly present in paintings depicting Christ's birth (one point each)?
17. What name is given to a group of angels, like those that appeared to the shepherds?
18. In which direction was the star that the wise men followed?
19. Which king did the Magi visit on the way to see Jesus?
20. What are the names of the three Wise Men (one point each)?
21. Which plant is traditionally brought in to the house on Christmas Eve as it is considered unlucky to bring it inside before that date?
22. Which fruit is the earliest known decoration for Christmas trees?
23. What decoration did Edward Johnson, assistant to Thomas Edison, invent in 1882?
24. Which creature is a common Christmas tree decoration in Poland as it is thought to have woven a blanket for baby Jesus?
25. Which sparkly decoration originally contained lead causing it to be banned?
26. What is traditionally hidden in American (US) Christmas trees as a decoration with the finder receiving a reward or good fortune for the following year?
27. Which clinging plant is often used in a Christmas wreath.
28. What is the Christmas decoration that was designed by accident when Erwin Perzy put white semolina flakes inside a glass sphere as he tried to intensify the candlepower of a so-called Schusterkugel (a water filled flask used to focus light since the Middle Ages)?
29. What spherical Christmas decoration was introduced in to Britain by Queen Victoria?
30. What plant is hung over doorways and is a sign of love and friendship?

*E&OE ie if I've omitted or got something wrong with the posted questions please pm me or post here, while I endeavor to get things right I'm only human and the typo monster can strike at any time