Holidays don’t often allow for introspection — thinking, being contemplative, studying one’s navel, that sort of thing.

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A few holidays can be good times to consider cosmic trivia, such as “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Or maybe, “is our universe contained in a drop of water in some larger cosmic ocean?” Thanksgiving is an obvious choice, plus Memorial Day.

What about Christmas? What could be more important for believers than their Savior’s birth and the promise it brought to the world?

Yet Christmas may be the holiday that’s most vulnerable to a dilution of the spirit by the tsunami of tinsel, the avalanche of avarice and crushing commercialism.

So, if Christmas in America is just too big to tone down, maybe we can focus a little on how it evolved into what it is today.

In that effort I looked up some Christmas facts and offer this little quiz for a quiet holiday moment or two. Maybe we can take the quiz while toasting our kind of white Christmas — white puffy clouds turning colors during a Marco beach sunset.

When was Christmas first celebrated? Most authorities agree it was in the fourth century.

Why is it on Dec. 25? Apparently church authorities chose the day to coincide (sort of) with the Winter Solstice. It’s also was the same date as the Roman Festival of Saturnalia and was a big day for some pagan groups as well.

Where do we get the idea of a Christmas tree? The “tree thing” came from Germany. However, the Library of Congress Web site notes that Romans used to hang evergreen boughs and branches all over the place on Saturnalia Day. Scholars are split on that.

What causes Rudolph’s nose to be red? Rudy’s proboscis is bright red because flying around near the subzero North Pole does that to any nose, human or animal. But when Johnny Marks wrote the Rudolph song, he apparently thought that the particular reindeer (or as some “experts” claim, a caribou) would be the star because his name, Rudolph, went well with “the red-nosed reindeer.” He was right of course. “Harvey the Red-Nosed Reindeer” didn’t do well at all in consumer surveys in several test market towns. One was Everglades City, I think.

What’s the origin of the tradition of Christmas caroling around town after dark? I think it was a fluke. Carolers were leftover trick-or-treaters from Halloween. They tried their candy quest again at Christmas but homeowners had had enough with all that door-to-door begging. So the people broke into song, hoping to coax at least some cocoa and cookies from the neighbors. “Joy to the World” smoothes feathers a lot better than somebody in a witch costume threatening to soap one’s windows.

Why does Santa land on the roof and come down through the chimney? His reindeer already are restless about this round-the-world ordeal. Santa fears they would wander off if he parked them at the curb. About the chimney thing — few homeowners have their security alarms connected to their chimneys. Front doors could be a big problem. Santa could not possibly remember everybody’s alarm pass codes. He has enough trouble with remembering who’s been bad and good.

Should everyone leave milk and cookies for Santa? No. Pressure is building for Santa to slim down. Oprah’s doing that topic next week with “before” and “after” Santas. Dr. Phil plays the latter.

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Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC TV stations in Atlanta, Houston and Washington, D.C. E-mail: chris@chriscurle.com.