Who Brings Holiday Presents?

SEELEY LAKE – As every child in the United States knows, on Christmas Eve a jolly old man named Santa Claus, dressed in red coat and hat, hops in his toy-filled sleigh and is magically pulled through the air by Rudolph and his reindeer cohorts. Throughout the night the chubby man slides down chimneys, or accesses other ports of entry into people's homes, and leaves presents under the tree for good little girls and boys.

At least that is how the story goes in the United States. But where did that tradition come from and how did the giving of presents become associated with the celebration of th...