Quiz Time!!! - My answers

   Below the fold are my answers to The Ultimate Christmas Quiz! Please don't view until you have answered the quiz (or if you do not wish to partake).

   Here are my answers (additional comments where I felt necessary):

1. A. - Matthew says B, but Luke says C.
2. C.
3. B? - Or D? B for sure, and I knew this before watching The Big Bang Theory episode "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis." (video clip) But what about A? There were certainly Greek influences in early Christianity, but I never heard of this festival before. Nor have I heard of C, though it could also be Roman related, much like B. One thing that bothers me with only providing B as an answer is that Saturnalia was unrealated to birthdays, and only explains celebrating near the winter solstice.
4. D.
5. A. - Only Matthew and Luke talk about Jesus's birth.
6. C? - My memory is fuzzy on this aspect of Luke. B sounds a lot like what is in Matthew, at least in the gifts, and I'm quite certain the gospels disagree on this. D (obviously) and E also can't be right, so that only leaves A as the other viable option.
7. B? - Initially I answered E, but someone had to bring the gifts from the previous question, so that can't be right. C and D are right out. That leaves A and B as the viable options. Again, I think Luke says one and Matthew says the other, so it's a question of which one goes with which gospel. I'm thinking it was a heavenly host (bearing the three gifts) that showed up in Matthew and the shepherds were in Luke.
8. B. - Matthew says C (except for the being afraid of Herod's son part, if memory serves me correcly; they just waited for Herod's death). Luke pretty much just says they go to Nazareth in Galilee. It might have some of the other parts mentioned in D, but I can't recall for sure.
9. E. - Adding that the evergreen trees weren't called "Christmas" trees in the pagan traditions in regards to A.
10. B. - Respect my German roots, yo!
11. A? C? - Commenters said "Bill O'Reilly" which would have been my answer if it would have been an option. Now, C is who O'Reilly blames, but it's untrue. A seems like a bizzare answer, though I suspect Christian Fundamentalists are mostly responsible, using the "persecution card," but the Founding Fathers? Maybe, I guess they established the 1st Ammendment, granting freedom of and from religion (meaning citizens don't have to recognize Christmas if they don't want to). If that's the idea behind that option, then A must be the answer.
12. C? I mean, Santa is depicted to be red just like Satan is and it is an anagram, but I think our depictions of Satan as being red are pretty modern, too. (Santa being red and stuff couldn't have come from Satan if these ideas developed simultaneously.) The other viable option is D. Yet while I really don't know much about Odin, I have this feeling I read that there is a connection, probably having something to do with Nordic traditions of the Yuletide.
13. B, C, and D. - Do I need to explain the odd wording of the choices as well as the fact that it is a "bonus" question to justify giving multiple answers?