Origin of Christmas

We all know of the festive holiday called Christmas, when the weather starts getting cold and snowy. We write a list for Santa Claus, and finally, on Christmas day, December 25th, we all get the presents we hoped for, but where did this holiday come from? What are we celebrating? Is there more behind this holiday than anyone thinks? In the early three hundreds, Christmas was just starting to be celebrated in the city of Rome. Surprisingly, this holiday didn’t become a major Christian holiday until the 9th century. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the christian savior Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, the story says that Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, once they arrived they searched for a place to stay, in the end the only available place was a barn where baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Once the savior was born, a star lit up the sky. Three wise men saw the Bethlehem star and traveled to meet him. Each wise man brought one gift: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even to this day, we celebrate the birth of Jesus as the main reason for this holiday. But why do we give gifts during this time of religious celebration? This tradition started around 336 CE. People started giving gifts during Christmas to represent the gifts given to Jesus by the three wise men. Okay, so we have Jesus and the Three Wise Men, but where did Santa come from? Who was the first Santa Claus? People believe that it was St. Nicholas, a monk born in A.D. 280. He was admired because of his kindness and became the face of Santa Claus, the jolly gift giver we all know and love. The tradition of giving gifts is one of the most known parts of Christmas, and is the thing that keeps us kids awake all night hoping for everything we wished for. To wrap things up, my favorite part of Christmas is seeing all the fun lights at night around the neighborhood.