Presents For Christmas

A Lovely Christmas Present

Christmas is approaching and everyone is planning to buy presents for their near and dear ones. Various types of presents are available these days which can easily be gifted on Christmas. The age old tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas is practiced even today. Christmas holiday is basically characterized in the western culture by the exchange of presents among near and dear ones. These gifts or Christmas presents are attributed to a common character called Father Christmas, better known as Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas.

Santa Claus is a Dutch folk tale based historical character named Saint Nicholas, who distributes gifts on the eve of his feast day. In the 19th century Saint Nicholas got associated with the American culture and was renamed Santa Claus or Saint Nick. It is a common belief that Santa Claus dressed in a red cloak with white fur trimmings and a long white beard, comes all the way from Greenland, dashing through the snow in a one horse open sledge over the tops of the trees and brings Christmas presents with him. He distributes such presents among the children. There is a very close connection between Christmas and Santa Claus and presents. It is said that the popular image of Santa Claus giving presents on Christmas was created by the German American cartoonist Thomas Nast. The Santa Claus we now recognize or is familiar with is Nast?s Santa which evolved in the 1880?s. The advertisers standardized the image in the 1920?s.

Father Christmas or Santa Claus other than distributing presents was originally associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness. In Italy it is said that a character by the name Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus and La Befana is the bringer of presents on Christmas Eve. It is believed that La Befana brings presents for all the children irrespective of caste or community. Santa Claus is accompanied by Black Peter who is believed to make the toy presents for children. But people of Latin American countries like Venezuela believe that Santa Claus makes the toys and gives it to baby Jesus who is the one to deliver the presents to children?s homes. The icon of Santa Claus distributing presents on Christmas is originally imported from United States. This belief of Santa distributing presents on Christmas is in fact an amalgamation of the traditional religious beliefs modern day globalization.

The German St. Nikolaus who is the German version of Santa Claus wears the white bishop?s dress and brings small presents such as candies, nuts, and fruits on December 6th and is usually accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht.

In certain parts of the world children keep their shoes

outside on Christmas eve and next morning they find their shoes filled with Christmas presents which they believe that Father Christmas has kept their for them. In some other parts of the world children also hang their stockings outside on Christmas Eve and next morning they find their stockings filled with candies and chocolates which Santa Claus keeps for them. Many parents teach their children about Father Christmas bringing gifts for them.

The giving of presents on Christmas is a very beautiful tradition that originally reminds us of the holiday season every year. The main spirit of Christmas presents lies in sharing love and extending kindness to our loved ones our family members and people who care for us and also charity to the underprivileged who are less fortunate then us.

Though recently there has been enough commercialization of Christmas which has perhaps made the simple Christmas presents more complicated and you need to spend a more but it also offers whole lot of choices. You can easily bring smile to your sweethearts face and show her how much you love and care for her by gifting her something on Christmas. Such Christmas presents can be wrapped in unique and creative ways with beautiful wrapping papers that the receiver will definitely cherish it the way as you had loved to buy them. You can easily select such Christmas presents depending on the skin color, nature, needs and personal choices of the person.

Modern Christmas presents include health products; cosmetics, accessories, dress and jewelry; toys, music CDs, DVD players, mobile phones, digital cameras and gadgets; and books too.

If a person wants to avoid the Christmas crowd he can easily sit at home and do his Christmas shopping on the internet. You can easily shop online for Christmas presents and Christmas gifts that your family and friend will cherish. So, if you just want to make your Christmas easy and relaxing just click on the mouse and shop your Christmas presents from any of the online shops and stores and gift your near and dear ones.

People may possess different opinions about the presents for Christmas. Some people are simply fussed about the consumerism of Christmas. It is perhaps the corruption of a simple religious holiday and a mere overemphasis on tinsel and toys. But apart from such complicated and hard core criticism, the old lady next door still sends lovely Christmas presents for her grandchildren and I can still hear the caustic remarks of the relatives if they receive only fruit baskets for Christmas. Apart from the complexities of the world, whatever the concept of Christmas present may be, it can only be said that exchange of gifts on Christmas is a beautiful way of expressing love, warmth and care to the person you love.