Six Seven Christmas Numbers

About this drawing

Teachers everywhere know these six seven Christmas numbers before they even look at the page. In 2025, kids and teens across the United States started shouting "six seven" at any chance they got, often with a palms-up hand wiggle. It had no real meaning, and that was the whole joke. Mention either number in math class and the room would crack up.

Behind the laughter, both digits have a respectable record. Six is the smallest perfect number, because its divisors add up to exactly itself: 1 + 2 + 3. It also turns up all over nature. Honeycomb cells have six sides, and snowflakes form six arms thanks to the way water molecules lock together as they freeze.

Seven, a prime number, has an even older reputation. The seven-day week goes back to ancient Mesopotamia, where sky watchers tracked seven bright objects moving against the stars. Tradition also counts seven colors in the rainbow and seven wonders of the ancient world, and Americans rolling dice know seven as the most likely total on two standard dice. So even if the catchphrase fades, as most playground crazes do, these two digits will keep their place in classrooms, in nature, and in a long list of old beliefs about lucky numbers.

• numbers
• six seven
• math fun
• funny christmas