History of Christmas Gifts

Christmas is the time to enjoy with friends and family. There are a lot of traditions associated with Christmas. Christmas candles, wreaths, gifts, Santa Claus etc. are related to Christmas celebration. People come together on this festival and enjoy feasts, parties and family get-together. Exchanging Christmas gifts is an important Christmas tradition followed in various cultures. The history of Christmas gifts can be traced in ancient Rome. Christmas gifts are given to family members, friends and acquaintances to celebrate joy and happiness of the festival and show your love.

In those days, celebration was organized to mark the end of year and worship Saturn, their God of harvest and it was a tradition to exchange fruits, food items and homemade goodies. At the time of Christ's birth, the three wise men brought gifts to Jesus. These gifts were in form of gold, incense and myrrh. Thus, the tradition of gift giving started with these three wise men. People heard about it and started practicing it in their lives to shoe their love for family members and friends during the occasion of Christmas. During the fourth century, there lived a bishop named St. Nicholas, who was known for his kindness and generosity. St. Nicholas started giving gifts to young kids during Christmas. St. Nicholas used to enter the house through chimney and keep the gifts in the stockings that were hanging near the bedside or fire place.

The tradition started by St. Nicholas of giving gifts slowly spread out throughout the world. In earlier times, gifts given were in form of fruits, homemade foods and handcrafted gifts. But with industrialization, the idea of gifts changed and new modern gifts in form of toys, home appliances, computer games, etc. were seen. Through advertising, the entire idea of gift giving during Christmas got commercialized and somewhere down the line lost its religious significance. There are various Christmas gift ideas.

There are Christmas gifts of various types like personalized Christmas gifts, unique Christmas gifts, and homemade Christmas gifts and so on. Christmas gifts are wrapped in beautiful paper and kept under the Christmas tree. Christmas gift opening is a special time for the family on Christmas day. The kids receive gifts on Christmas Eve in some cultures while in some cultures gifts are distributed on St. Nicholas Day. Some kids are lucky as they get gifts on both the days. Santa Claus is the modern adaptation of St. Nicholas. Santa Clause gives gift to kids in form of toys, sweets, candies and books. Many kids keep their stockings near bed or mantel piece on Christmas Eve so that Santa can place his gifts into it.

The tradition of giving gifts still continues only it has undergone some change. The common gifts given are homemade cookies, chocolates, sweets, candles and toys. To meet everyone and enjoy the happy occasion together is the main motive behind the tradition of giving Christmas gifts.