Because very few people have actually seen Santa Claus in person, we can only speculate about what he looks like. The modern day image of Santa Claus was created in New York after the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Some of the city's residents sought out symbols of the city's non-English past. New York had originally been established as the Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam, so the Dutch Sinterklaas gift giver became known as Saint Nicholas. By the 1880s, the public depiction of Santa had evolved into the robed, fur clad, form we now recognize, possibly based on the English figure of Father Christmas.

Christmas carols started as Christmas hymns back in fourth century Rome. By the twelfth century, Chistmas carols evolved into songs. Several centuries later "wassailers" would go from house to house singing them. During the middle ages Christmas caroling was popular, but was dance focused, with a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. The tradition of singing carols in church did not start until the late 1800s.

In the 1800s, Christmas trees became popular and so did the tradition of exchanging gifts, which is associated with St. Nicholas, and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which were given to the baby Jesus by the Magi. The poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (more commonly known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas), written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822, led to the widespread adoption of gift giving.

A little known fact about Christmas is that from 1647-1660, England's Puritan rulers passed a law that made Christmas illegal (although pro-Christmas rioting broke out in protest). And, in Colonial America, the Puritans of New England outlawed Christmas in Boston from 1659 to 1681. Scotland also abolished the observance of Christmas, from 1640 until 1958 when it became a Scottish public holiday again.

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