Fancy Tales Related to Christmas

A lot of what is widely regarded as true about Christmas, or held as a tradition, cannot be, or has not been, verified, or has changed throughout the years. Even Christmas Day itself, December 25, has been questioned as to whether that is the exact day on which Jesus was born.

Skeptics have asked, “Why would shepherds be out in the cold watching their flocks by night during the winter?” Those skeptics have put forward the thought that Jesus may really have been born in the spring instead. It is, therefore, little wonder that there are many fancy stories and tales that are told about Christmas and the Christmas season.

The most common fancy tale that everyone tells, particularly to children, is about Santa Claus, also called St. Nicholas. But even if it were accepted that Santa Claus existed, where does he live, and how is he able to get to all of the houses of good boys and girls on Christmas Eve?

In the United States, Santa Claus is said to have two homes. There is a home in Torrington, Connecticut, which is used as a distribution point for Santa and his many helpers, who are elves, to hand out gifts. And then, a second home is said to be located in Wilmington, New York, and that is where Santa Claus and his delivery reindeer crew are located.

But Santa can be visited in Cyberspace at anytime, and what about the widely held belief that Santa Claus really lives in a village at the North Pole? The people of Finland also claim that their country is the official residence of Santa Claus. That's because in Finland, you can actually visit a village anytime during the year. There you can see Santa's workshop, and observe Santa and his elves hard at work, as they prepare for their very important Christmas gift delivery job on Christmas Eve. The only day when Santa's workshop is closed to visitors is, of course, on Christmas Eve.

Maybe a very smart visitor could visit Santa's workshop on the day before Christmas Eve to see if there are any clues as to how Santa and his reindeer plan to make their trip the next day. As the tale goes in Finland, Santa Claus and his reindeer do not reach their destinations around the globe by flying.

Finland welcomes visitors to Santa's workshop, but there is nothing said about whether visitors actually have any chance of having a word with the man himself. While the chances of doing so are believed to be non-existent, among the questions that inquiring minds could ask Santa is whether Rudolph is the son of Donner (and to confirm the spelling - Donner or Donder), or whether Santa spotted him in a different reindeer village, one foggy Christmas Eve, after he had already started on his Christmas toy delivery mission.

If mere mortals got a chance to question Santa, then he also would likely have some questions for us humans. He may want to know whose idea it was to have Christmas trees and for the gifts to be placed under them.

The tradition of Christmas trees, as it exists today, comes from Germany, by way of immigrants; but it isn't clear how the tradition really gained a foothold in Germany. One story is that Christians in Germany, during the 16th century, started to bring trees that were decorated into their homes. Some of those Christians would build pyramids for Christmas. The pyramids were made of wood and would be decorated with evergreens and candles, if wood was in short supply.

It is however Martin Luther, a Protestant reformer, who is said to have been the first to add lighted candles as decoration to a tree, based on his inspiration from the brilliant light of twinkling stars that shone through the evergreen trees as he walked home one winter evening.

As the legend goes, Martin Luther placed a tree in a primary room of his house and placed wires with small, lighted candles around the branches of the tree. That is how, as the tale goes, the Christmas tree, as known today, was started.