NOT even the financial hardship caused by the global economic meltdown can erase the legacy of Santa Claus, whose virtue of sharing, largely contributed to a pandemic of gift-giving and sharing, during the Christmas season

Also known as St. Nicholas, Santa Claus (or simply Santa), has made Christmas more meaningful, especially to children to whom he has been endeared.

There is a long list of versions as to how Santa came about. Wikipedia says Santa was born in Turkey in 270 AD, while another portal, Santa’s Net says he was born in the United States in 1860.

One Santa per Country

There are near similar figures elsewhere in the world. One is angel-like Kris Kringle (also known as Christkind) who was said to be delivering gifts to nice children in Switzerland and Germany.

Scandinavia also has jolly elf named Jultomten. He was said to be doing the same thing — delivering gifts to children via a sleigh that is being drawn not by reindeers but by goats.

English legend has it that Father Christmas hops from one home to another every Christmas Eve to check on the children’s wish, written a piece of paper and placed inside a stocking. Father Christmas was said to fill these stocking with presents and treats.

France won’t be left behind. They have Pere Noel, filling shoes (not socks) with treats and gifts.

Russia has elderly woman Babushka, who’s annual visit to the children every Christmas Eve is attributed to her way of making up for the sins she committed. One of those sins, according to legends, was when she gave the wrong direction to the Three Wise Men, in search of Bethlehem where Infant Jesus was born.

Italy boasts of a woman named La Befana, a rare breed of witch who makes use of her flying broomstick in delivering her presents every Christmas Eve.

Regardless of which version is factual, the truth remains — Santa Claus is an American icon, whose image and virtue went across borders and continents.

Generous Fat Man

In the United Stated, Santa is visualized as a fat man wearing a white beard and donning red suit. He gets all the credits from kids getting gifts they wished for in a letter they placed inside socks that were left hanging near the fireplace on eve before Christmas day.

On board a sleigh drawn by reindeers, Santa carries a big pouch where he draws his Christmas presents to American kids. The big belief fat man in red suit was also said to be sneaking into the chimney to get into the homes and leave behind his presents.

Multi-facet Yuletide in the US

Christmas celebrations in the United States today vary because of the growing number of migrants settling in the American soil.

Migrant settlers have brought in many Christmas traditions.

For one, Pennsylvania has maintained the tradition of building a landscape that they call as “putz”, placed under a Christmas tree. State-based Germans boasts of their own version of Santa. They call it Belsnickle.

Shooting firearms, fireworks in the neighborhood are how early European settlers welcome Christmas in the United States. There are actually even a lot more Christmas traditions in the US, but regardless as to where it originated, it is the spirit that counts. The Santa story is just a bonus. GP

For 2009 Christmas or for any occasions you must be very careful in choosing your girlfriend – wife gifts if you do not want to buy the wrong gift and send the wrong message.

Before buying anything you must know what she want but I know that many times we do not know her wishes and desires but we still want to give her something she likes to make a good impression.

So, here are the top 10 worst gifts a man can give to a woman for 2009 Christmas or any occasions:

1. Never Give a woman, for Christmas any household appliance that you thing it will make her life easier. For example a blender, a toaster, a new vacuum cleaner or anything like that.

2. Any cleaning products that came in large package, “honey, I bought that large box of detergent you wanted”, “I got a discount on this industrial device to clean toilet”… All I can say is to be ready to run

3. Any sharp object with slices or discs, or a set of Ginsu knives. They may someday be used as a weapon against you when you come home with lipstick on your collar after “a boys night”.

4. Do not buy Christmas gifts for you and then pretend they are for her. “Honey, I am sure you will find useful this drills that I bought you.” After you finish talking she already will find it useful in making a 10 cm hole in your head just because you have thought she would accept such a vile gift. After such a gift, you probably will not be there for the next Christmas.

5. Any cotton linen, such as pajamas with a “door” in the back, a night-shirt printed with cartoon characters like Little Mermaid or Bamby. She will think that you do not find her sexy as she is. Pull out your wallet and buy her something sexy that is nice and good quality.

6. Do not buy a cheap perfume that smells like your dirty socks. If you plan to buy her a perfume, chose the known brands and the best for your girlfriend / wife.

7. Do not buy any cheap jewelry with glass stones that you see on TV at teleshopping. She will be ashamed when she will want to show it to her friends so if you decided to buy her jewelry you should buy something nice and with veritable stones and rare metals like gold and silver. If you do not have the money for jewelry is better to look for something else.

8. Do not buy clothes because for a few seconds you think you have good taste in the field of women clothing, trust me you do not have. Women loves her clothes and they like shopping so do not think that you can do this because you will probably fail, badly.

9. Do not give for 2009 Christmas a gift like a subscription to a fitness center or a shop in maintaining silhouette (unless you know for sure that she really wants something like that). She might think that you consider her fat. Most men should know, especially those who have learned the correct answer to the question “Do I look fat in these pants?”.

10. Finally, do not ever buy a woman anti-wrinkle cream or a book on “How not to be obnoxious Sunday to Saturday”. These are not considered gifts actually are considered offending.

These are the top 10 worst gifts for 2009 Christmas and be careful in choosing gifts for your girlfriend or any women friends because you will send the wrong message and you will not like it, trust me I know.

When it comes to buy gifts for women, I personally like and choose jewelry because in my opinion and from my experience you will never fail with a nice jewelry. Jewelry are always in fashion and you must choose something you really like or know that she likes.

So, most of the time I buy jewelry from the internet and there is a website that I trust because is secure, has reasonable prices and I was always very pleased with whatever I bought.

About Author
Want to Buy The Right Gifts For Your Loved Ones? Click Here to find some Great Ideas of Gifts!

MANY are living on the wrong orientation of what Christmas is all about. It isn’t all about shopping for something new like shoes, bags and presents. It is actually the day of the year when families (and even extended families at that) get the rare chance to bond.

Quality time with the kids and other family members matters most in this time of the year, although we can’t just kick the shopping tradition, practice of gift giving (or at least sending greeting cards) and the traditional festive dining table.

For moms, who are generally considered as responsible and the principal architect of most (if not all) holidays and gathering, there are actually some tips you may want to know as to maintain precious bonding moments at the height of your tedious preparations in time for the holiday.

Family Cooking Session

There are menus on our cook books that require members of the participation of family members, especially your kids. Baking cake is one. Or better yet, ask your kids to do the baking themselves using the ready-to-bake dough or cookies. These ready to bake food stuffs are conveniently available in groceries nearest where you and your family is.

Baking cakes for kids would truly amuse or fascinate them, especially using colorful icing and toppings. Start off a kids baking party.

Watch Classic Christmas Movies

Convening your family in front of the television and DVD player to watch a classic movie tackling Christmas is another good idea. In fact, it has always been effective even if it’s not Christmas season.

For the Christmas season, watching the Home Alone (1, 2 and 3) movie series would be a hit especially for kids, but for families who have already seen these films about a young lad who got lost three times in the nick of Christmas, there would always be other classics equally entertaining. Polar Express is one. Other recommended Christmas classics are Little Women, Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Charlie Brown Christmas, among others.

While watching a holiday classic film, popcorn would be a smart food stuff to keep them busy. Don’t forget sodas too.

Donning for Photo-Ops

Assembling family members for a family photo shoot is also a clever gimmick, especially for kids, who are known to have the passion of trying on their new get-ups. It also allows them to have their own photo-ops, copies of which they could post on their social networking sites in the internet.

Night of Games and Quizzes

Moms can also try playing host to a quiz game show of sort. The game should however be related to Christmas, yuletide traditions, people, event and trivia. That way moms don’t only get to entertain her kids, she also gets to add some knowledge to them.

Allocating prizes (like candies, cookies, chocolates, cakes among others) sounds good too. However, moms should be cautious about her kids who won’t be able to get the right answer. Consolation prize is fine.

Be a role model. Moms (and in fact, all of us) should never strike out from our mind what Christmas is all about. It is the season for sharing. Sharing something to the poor doesn’t have to be expensive. What matters is the thought of it. GP

If you are a street fashion people, you must be familiar with many clothing brand and know Ed Hardy clothing brand. It is a world famous clothing brand that famous for the special tattoo art design. Depend on the unique design and high quality, Ed Hardy clothing is getting more and more favor from different people.

The brand got its name from the famous American tattoo artist Ed Hardy. He was a very famous tattoo artist and has published many books on tattooing techniques. But his tattooing turned into a brand by the efforts of a company called Christian Audiger. This company was a very famous and very powerful company in the field of clothing. They felt that it would be appropriate to create a brand called Ed Hardy and use Hardy’s art as the main selling point for the brand. This venture had turned out to be a very successful one and Ed Hardy clothing is one of the most famous brands in the clothing industry.

The brand became very famous because it was worn by many famous celebrities like Madonna, Britney spears and also Sylvester Stallone. The brand has clothes for men, women, and kids. They have also diversified their business by having a lot of accessories to support their clothing business. for men they have a variety of products such as Ed Hardy t-shirts , active wear, denim, outwear, swim trucks, sweaters, tops etc. the accessories include things such as belts, caps, scarves, shoes, socks, jeweler, sunglasses, ties and even wallets. For women the brand has apparels such as active war, bottoms, denim, hoodies, intimates, t shirts and tanks.

People started liking the brand because of the art work that the brand products had on them. People felt that they could express themselves very well by wearing the brand. They felt that they were able to standout from the crowd if they wore Ed Hardy’s collection of dresses. It did work and very soon it became very famous among the youngsters of USA. The thing to be considered is that the product attracted both male and female customers. It was a huge attraction because it enabled people to exhibit tattoos without having to tattoo their body.

Today, you can see Ed Hardy stores here and there especially in the Europe country. If you’re planning to purchase Ed Hardy clothing or Ed Hardy accessories as a Christmas gif for your families and friends, you can also purchase online, just please visit the Ed Hardy online store for more discounts and save your money immediately! Good luck!

When looking at a Christmas tree, it needs to be dressed up with accents just like people do. To make a good impression on your guests, start off by adding a handcrafted touch by using the standard classic white lights.

Now is when you turn your tree into a personalized piece of art. By stringing handcrafted glass beads on 10 continuous jewellery wires you can make a handmade garland to wrap around the tree, somewhat like a necklace with shimmering jewellery full of reds and greens when the Christmas lights hit them. The ends of the long colorful strings of jewellery wire need to be crimped off in order to make sure that the handcrafted beads don’t come off and break. By adding one strand at a time you make sure that the Christmas tree’s jewellery is on perfectly as well as giving you more control over exact placement.

Handcrafted red and clear glass beads can be strung on 15 inch lengths of wire and then connected with a clamp so it can be shaped into a star which gives the tree a handmade touch. Add regular glass balls to the handcrafted jewellery and they will remind a person of diamond earrings, a women’s favorite piece of jewellery. Silver glass balls generously painted with crafter’s glue and then rolled in clear seed glass beads until they are completely covered can be added next. The handmade jewels are nicely placed for everyone to see. You will then notice how well the handcrafted jewellery looks on such a beautiful tree.

Jewellery boxes were purchased at your local jewellery store can be wrapped in handcrafted wrapping paper that has been handmade for an additional touch. Handmade jewelry made out of green glass E-beads are randomly hung throughout the tree like a jewellery stores jewellery display case. The various sized handmade gift wrapped gifts can be placed under the tree while the guests begin arriving. The handcrafted paper will make them look as if they are pieces of jewellery in a jewellery box.

Along the fireplace mantle you can place handmade stockings that are made with handcrafted jewellery placed neatly on the front of each stocking hanging with care. Handmade gingerbread cookies with jewel buttons can be placed neatly on a plate for display.