It's only fitting that since Santa Claus has the magnificent capability to

elves busy themselves for their end-of-year Christmas expedition around the

globe.

The popularity in America today of the images and legend of Santa Claus

can be traced to the poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas,' that was written

by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822. In that poem, Moore described St. Nicholas as a

jolly fellow who flew from house to house in a sleigh pulled by reindeers and

waited for children to go to bed on Christmas Eve before he came down the

chimney to deliver Christmas presents for them.

Following the distribution of that poem, the popular magazine Harper's Weekly

published cartoons by Thomas Nast between 1863 and 1886 that depicted Santa as a

cheerful fellow with a large round belly and long white beard who wore a bright

red suit that was trimmed with white fur. In those cartoons, Santa also held a

sack, which was filled with toys for boys and girls, over his shoulder. The

cartoons also showed Santa reading letters from good boys and girls, working in

his workshop with his elves, checking his list to make sure he had all the

required toys and even showed his wife, Mrs. Claus.

The tradition of Santa Claus was brought to America however by Dutch colonists

who settled in New York City, which was called New Amsterdam at the time.

The real St. Nicholas is said to be a minor saint from the 4th Century with a

reputation for generosity and kindness that gave rise to legends of many

miracles that he performed for the poor and unhappy. One of the stories about

the legend of St. Nicholas is that he saved three poor girls who were sisters

from being sold into a life of slavery or prostitution by their father.

According to the legend, Santa Claus provided the girls with a dowry so that

they could get married.

The legend of St. Nicholas led to hundreds of people being devoted to him and

consequently thousands of European churches became dedicated to him. After the

Reformation period however, widespread practice and worship of St. Nicholas

disappeared in European countries that were Protestant, except in Holland where

the legend of St. Nicholas continued. St. Nicholas was known as Sint Nikolaas

but that was later corrupted to Sinter Klaas.

Dutch colonists took this tradition of Sinter Klaas to New York City where it

was adopted using the Englist name of Santa Claus. Over time, the Dutch legend

of the kindly saint was combined with old Nordic folktales about a magician who

punished naughty children and rewarded good ones with presents to give rise to

the stories that now exist about Santa Claus.

The red and white-trimmed suit of Santa Claus is believed to be the colors that

the original St. Nicholas worebecause red and white were the colors of the robes

worn by traditional bishops. It is also believed that the Coca Cola Co. played a

role in what is regarded as the popular look of Santa Claus today through

paintings by artist Haddon Sundblom that were placed in some of the company's

advertisement between 1931 and 1964.

It's only fitting, perhaps, that along with the magic of Santa Claus at

Before the discovery and use of electricity, candles were used to light

Christmas trees. That practice evolved into having glass covers with candles

inside them or metal lanterns that had small wicks. These were hung like

ornaments on Christmas trees. But even after Edison invented the incandescent

electric light bulb, it took many years before the large-scale manufacture of

Christmas tree lights were available commercially.

It is said that the idea of Christmas lights came from one of Edison's

assistants, Edward Johnson. In 1882, Johnson had Christmas tree bulbs made

specially for him. He displayed these electric bulbs on his Christmas tree at

his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City and it drew widespread attention. But

Christmas tree lights underwent many changes and improvement before General

Electric Co. introduced Christmas lights on a commercial scale. As an example,

among the earlier lights used on Christmas trees were night-lights that were

strung together to make light strings. After the commercial introduction of

Christmas lights, sales and wide-scale use of them soared.

Decorative mini-lights to be used for Christmas tree lighting were introduced in

the 1970s. Since then, they have continued to be popular and are the dominant

types of Christmas tree lights in the marketplace. Before that, icicle lights

were introduced as decoration for rooflines. Those decorative lights are the

most popular ones used for outdoor landscape lighting during the holidays.

Outdoor decorative lighting has evolved from Christmas tree lighting to also

become a popular way to use colorful lighting during the holidays to create

spectacular scenes.

Another development in decorative lighting at Christmas time is the use of

candles. Real candles can be used, but electric candles became more popular and

safer because they present less threat of a fire hazard. Today that threat has

also decreased with the development of flameless battery candles. The battery

operation also makes their use more flexible because they can be placed in areas

where there aren't electrical outlets. Candles are usually displayed at several

windows of a house during the holidays. They produce an appealing look

especially if there are at least two sets of three windows each other where they

can be placed.

Battery-operated candles can also be used during Christmas and the holidays for

other activities such as caroling, church services, school activities and for

other holiday arrangements around the home.

As Christmas lights have become a mandatory feature of the holidays, they are

continually being used in new ways that differ considerably from their early

beginnings. Outdoor lighting is now just as common as indoor lighting and that

is an area in which a change in the use of holiday lighting can be seen. Along

with icicle lights that illuminate rooflines and frames of houses, there are

also lights that are placed in shrubs. Holiday lighting also comes in the shape

of trees and other ornaments that can be placed on lawn to enhance the visual

appeal during the holidays.

Many lawns are landscaped by lighting during Christmas and the holiday season

with lighted figurines and various other items associated with the season. In

some communities, entire blocks of streets will have such elaborate holiday lawn

lighting that they attract passersby and even tourists - residents from

elsewhere - who are captivated by the spectacular visual displays of the

landscaped holiday lighting.