WHY CHILDREN GET GIFTS ON CHRISTMAS: A HISTORY

WHY CHILDREN GET GIFTS ON CHRISTMAS: A HISTORY
Santa Claus 1881
An 1881 Illustration by Thomas Nast published in Harper’s. Nast created the image of Santa Claus that endures today.

In 1800s New York, the overlapping interests of middle-class families and the wealthy produced a cultural practice that’s still in place today.

Paul Ringel, in an article in The Atlantic, explains how the custom of giving gifts to children at Christmas time originated the late 1700s and early 1800s in America.

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