1. The Christmas

2. The legend of Santa Claus A bout one thousand and six hundred years ago,there was an old man named Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra in Turkey. Legend has it that when he was born he stood up and said thanks to God for a safe arrival. Apparently in later life he brought three children back from the dead after they'd been cut up by a local butcher. Back in the fourth century they loved this sort of stuff, especially the Dutch. The story lines became ever more ridiculous...he'd jump on his horse and ride across the rooftops with his helpers delivering presents down chimneys. An edge of menace was added. In1822,this story of the great philanthropist was circulated to America by a Dutch preacher.

3. The story about Christmas stockings Once upon a time, there was a kind nobleman.His wife died from sick and left him and his three daughters. This nobleman had tried many inventions, but all in vain. He had spent all the money, so they had to live in a farm. His daughters also had to cook, saw and sweep by themselves. Years later, his daughters were in the age of marriage. He became more depressed because he had no money to buy dowries for his daughters. One night, daughters dried their stockings by hanging then near the fireplace after they washed the clothes.

4. St. Nicholas came to the door of his house after he knew the condition of their father. He saw the whole family sleeping and noticed the girls’ stockings through the window. Instantly, he took out three bags of gold and threw them into the house from the chimney. The gold fell right girls’ stockings. Next morning, the girls woke up and found their stockings were full of gold; enough for them to buy dowries so that the nobleman was able to see his daughters’ marriage. At the end, they lived happily forever. Still now, the children in the world carry on the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings.

5. Reindeer In 1823, Clement C. Moore, an American poet, gave us the Santa Claus we know today. He described Santa as a jolly man dressed in a red fur-trimmed suit and gave him a sleigh with reindeer in his poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” later called “Night Before Christmas.” He named Santa’s reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen. In 1939, Rudolph was created by Robert May, an employee at Montgomery Ward, in a poem he wrote to use as sales gimmick, Some scholars think the origin of the reindeer legend is even earlier, sterling from Norse mythology. The fierce Norsemen believed that spirits from the tribal north World descend from the sky with their reindeer to deliver valuable gifts to believers.