Piles of presents

Gift have been part of christmas ever since the kings ɑnd shepherds brought presents for Jesus. Families ɑnd friends buy each other presents, but other people bring them too. Long ago in Turkey, there lived a bishop named Nicholas. Nicholas loved to give children presents ɑnd help the poor. He was such a good man he became St. Nicholas. Today he's known as Santa Claus or father Christmas.

A story about St Nicholas why stockings are left out :
There was once a man who had three daughters, but he was too poor to pay for their weddings. 'We'll never be married' sighed one, as she washed their stockings ɑnd hung them over the fire to dry. St Nicholas was walking by ɑnd heard her. Late that night, he dropped a shower of golden coins down the chimney. When the sisters found the gold in their stockings, they were thrilled. Their father was delighted, 'it must be a gift from St Nicholas' he smiled.

Some say that St Claus lives at the North Pole, or in Lapland, which is nearby. Every year, millions of children send him letters, saying what they'd like in their stockings for Christmas. Santa packs his bulging sack ɑnd sets off on his sleigh, pulled by nine flying reindeer.

Santa isn't the only person to bring presents at Christmas. Italian children wait for La Befana, a kind, old witch. She didn't join the kings to visit Jesus because she had to sweep her house. Now she searches for the baby every Christmas, leaving presents as she goes. In Sweden, children leave out a bowl of porridge for the Tomte, a gnome who lives under the floorboards. Children in Syria leave out hay, for the three kings' youngest camel. In the morning, the hay was vanished ɑnd presents are there instead. In Germany, children write letters to a Christmas angel called the Christkind, asking him to leave their parents under the tree. People open their presents at different times too. In Holland, the paper is torn off on St. Nicholas Day, December 6th. In Scandinavia ɑnd Germany, Christmas Eve is the big night. Then Christmas morning is free for church ɑnd visiting friends.
But in Britain, Australia, the US ɑnd many other countries, everyone has to wait for Christmas Day. For hundred of years, presents came without cards, until in 1843, an artist named John Callcot Horsley invented the first ever Christmas card. Now more than ten thousand million Christmas cards are sent every year.

Christmas Around the World - Lesley Sims

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