For Christians, the gifts given at Christmas are a symbol of the homages that the Three Wise Men paid to the baby Jesus after his birth during the history of the Nativity. We give gifts to express our love and appreciation for others. Love seeks the supreme good of the loved one. Our motivation for giving gifts should be to do so in honor of the birth of our Savior, who gave us the most precious gift of all salvation.
Most of the time, the supreme good is not received with expensive gifts, but with simple things of everyday use or value. Economist Joel Waldfogel noted that, due to the mismatch between what the gifted value the gift and the value paid by the giver, gifts lose between a tenth and a third of their value; he calls it the loss of Christmas dead weight. Sometimes these gifts are in the form of money, like a Christmas voucher; other times, in the form of gift vouchers. That night, the children leave their shoes near a window (similar to the tradition of Christmas socks) to fill them with the gifts they asked for.
The tradition of giving at Christmas is centuries old and reminds people of the magical birth of Christ in a stable long time ago. The hustle and bustle of the season sometimes hide the reasons for the tradition of giving at Christmas. My great aunt occupied her usual place in front of the Christmas tree and meticulously read each name and whose gift it was. The custom of giving at Christmas was a natural adoption of these and other seasonal customs, such as the ceremonial lighting of candles, songs of celebration and the celebration of big holidays.
It wasn't until the late 19th century that people began to see Christmas Day as a time to give gifts to children and others. The popularity of this custom grew after the positive reception of the 1823 poem The Night Before Christmas and the novel A Christmas Carol from 1843. Many argue that Christmas would be incredibly different without the many advertisements and places to buy gifts for loved ones.
