We three kings and Christmas trees: pharmacotherapy from presents and diseases from decorations

We seldom identify the holiday season with medical matters, but perhaps we have been remiss in not doing so. Many holiday customs have medical significance — some positive, some negative. Christmas and the following 2 weeks host the highest cardiac and non-cardiac mortality of the major holidays,1 but few people seem to dread the approach of December as a threat to their physical health. On the positive side, some ancient kinds of Christmas gifts turn out to have modern medical applications, while, not so positively, some modern decorations cause a fair degree of morbidity.