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There are some things that are tradition at Christmas but are not correct. Here is what I have noticed, either on my own or once someone pointed it out to me. Hopefully this doesn’t come across as bah-humbug-ish.

• The wise men came from one country. They are not from different countries. Around here they are usually portrayed as 3 guys of different ethnicities, which implies they were from different places but came together on their mission to follow the star. But they were from the same place so they should have been of similar features. Historically they were thought to be Persian, so that’s what I think of them as.
• I’m not going to correct the idea that there were three wise men, because everyone already knows that we don’t know the number. But if you’re going to have wise men in a scene you have to pick some specific number, so you could argue with any number that’s chosen. Except one. If someone says there was 1 wise man then you can argue that. So let’s just stick with 3 and not argue about it. Feel free to argue about if the wise men were at the Nativity though.
• The angels did not sing. They spoke to the shepherds. As far as I can tell, angels are not the singing type. I even checked Revelation, and there it describes the angels as speaking not singing.
• We do know that Jesus was born at night. This point is not to correct something that’s traditionally wrong but rather pointing out that the tradition is factually correct. It’s not just because of the star, although the star is why all the Nativity scenes are portrayed at night. That, and enough other things portray the Nativity at night (such as the carol Silent Night).

Now you too can be a hit at parties and step in with a “technically” or “well actually” to keep things right.

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