Did you know that Jingle Bells is not a Christmas song?

It was originally written for Thanksgiving, inspired by wild sleigh rides in the town of Medford, Massachusetts. Composer James Pierpont wrote the song for a Thanksgiving service at church.

However, the snowy imagery and catchy melody quickly turned it into a Christmas classic. Originally titled “One Horse, Open Sleigh”, the lyrics were slightly different from the version we know today.

It included some light hearted mishaps, like falling into the snow. Over time, the song underwent some minor lyric adjustments and was rebranded as Jingle Bells.

It was one of the first songs ever recorded in 1889 and was the first Christmas song ever played in his face upon Gemini 6 in 1965.

Pierpont never earned much from the song because he didn’t renew the copyright. Despite its immense popularity, it passed into the public domain, preventing his heirs from profiting from him.

In 1988, this postage stamp was issued, featuring a Jingle Bell’s themed one horse open sleigh.It unofficially commemorated the songwriter Irving Berlin, who wrote White Christmas, but could have easily been attributed to Pierpont instead.

There’s even an error version of this stamp that’s missing the curly Q in The Sleigh Runner.