Brian Earl

And where Thomas Nast was doing things for Harper's Weekly, Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker were doing covers for the Saturday Evening Post in the early 1920s. And we're starting to see in those images Santa shifting toward more of the notion that we have today, that he's not an elf. He's not this gnome-like little creature. He's a six-foot guy. He's fully human grandfather.

And where Thomas Nast was doing things for Harper's Weekly, Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker were doing covers for the Saturday Evening Post in the early 1920s. And we're starting to see in those images Santa shifting toward more of the notion that we have today, that he's not an elf. He's not this gnome-like little creature. He's a six-foot guy. He's fully human grandfather.

And where Thomas Nast was doing things for Harper's Weekly, Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker were doing covers for the Saturday Evening Post in the early 1920s. And we're starting to see in those images Santa shifting toward more of the notion that we have today, that he's not an elf. He's not this gnome-like little creature. He's a six-foot guy. He's fully human grandfather.

And then it was Haddon Sundblom, who was a commercial artist who worked for Coca-Cola, same guy who did the Quaker Oats guy, started doing Santa Claus in the early 1930s. And he would do at least one or two of these paintings every year. And then it was Coca-Cola's massive marketing budget that allowed them to just propagate this one image of Santa really far and wide.

And then it was Haddon Sundblom, who was a commercial artist who worked for Coca-Cola, same guy who did the Quaker Oats guy, started doing Santa Claus in the early 1930s. And he would do at least one or two of these paintings every year. And then it was Coca-Cola's massive marketing budget that allowed them to just propagate this one image of Santa really far and wide.

And then it was Haddon Sundblom, who was a commercial artist who worked for Coca-Cola, same guy who did the Quaker Oats guy, started doing Santa Claus in the early 1930s. And he would do at least one or two of these paintings every year. And then it was Coca-Cola's massive marketing budget that allowed them to just propagate this one image of Santa really far and wide.

So there's kind of one of those internet rumors that Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus. I think it's more, there's a little bit of truth to that. It's more accurate to say that that's, The work that Haddon Sundblom did is kind of the point that we stopped iterating on our notion of Santa Claus. So it's more like they finalized our image of him.

So there's kind of one of those internet rumors that Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus. I think it's more, there's a little bit of truth to that. It's more accurate to say that that's, The work that Haddon Sundblom did is kind of the point that we stopped iterating on our notion of Santa Claus. So it's more like they finalized our image of him.

So there's kind of one of those internet rumors that Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus. I think it's more, there's a little bit of truth to that. It's more accurate to say that that's, The work that Haddon Sundblom did is kind of the point that we stopped iterating on our notion of Santa Claus. So it's more like they finalized our image of him.

Well, giving gifts at Christmastime wasn't always a huge deal. I mean, it was in as much as it's common to give gifts on almost any kind of celebration. But Christmas wasn't a major gift-giving holiday until a couple of things were true. Number one, until we started getting the notion that it is, and that was really a matter of there being more goods to sell, right?

Well, giving gifts at Christmastime wasn't always a huge deal. I mean, it was in as much as it's common to give gifts on almost any kind of celebration. But Christmas wasn't a major gift-giving holiday until a couple of things were true. Number one, until we started getting the notion that it is, and that was really a matter of there being more goods to sell, right?

Well, giving gifts at Christmastime wasn't always a huge deal. I mean, it was in as much as it's common to give gifts on almost any kind of celebration. But Christmas wasn't a major gift-giving holiday until a couple of things were true. Number one, until we started getting the notion that it is, and that was really a matter of there being more goods to sell, right?

You think as we become a more industrial society, you're going to have the media giving merchants an avenue to advertise through that media. And also the merchants and producers themselves saying, oh, this Christmas thing is another way that we can get people to buy goods, right?

You think as we become a more industrial society, you're going to have the media giving merchants an avenue to advertise through that media. And also the merchants and producers themselves saying, oh, this Christmas thing is another way that we can get people to buy goods, right?

You think as we become a more industrial society, you're going to have the media giving merchants an avenue to advertise through that media. And also the merchants and producers themselves saying, oh, this Christmas thing is another way that we can get people to buy goods, right?

so it wasn't until we get to this period of the late 19th early 20th century that christmas became a major gift giving holiday prior to this christmas gifts were something that would be very very small children would get gifts in their stockings that they leave either at the end of their beds or on the mantle adults would give each other gifts to some extent but maybe not much they'd usually be handmade items and they'd almost never be wrapped you'd always just give it over to the other person

so it wasn't until we get to this period of the late 19th early 20th century that christmas became a major gift giving holiday prior to this christmas gifts were something that would be very very small children would get gifts in their stockings that they leave either at the end of their beds or on the mantle adults would give each other gifts to some extent but maybe not much they'd usually be handmade items and they'd almost never be wrapped you'd always just give it over to the other person

so it wasn't until we get to this period of the late 19th early 20th century that christmas became a major gift giving holiday prior to this christmas gifts were something that would be very very small children would get gifts in their stockings that they leave either at the end of their beds or on the mantle adults would give each other gifts to some extent but maybe not much they'd usually be handmade items and they'd almost never be wrapped you'd always just give it over to the other person

Gift wrap, as we know it, can probably trace its roots back to the early 20th century. Merchants would sell tissue paper. They used to refer to it as gift dressings. It was usually plain white. And it was often if something came in a box, if it was a product that you bought from a store, it came in a box, you'd want to wrap it up. Smaller gifts would typically be hung in the tree.

Gift wrap, as we know it, can probably trace its roots back to the early 20th century. Merchants would sell tissue paper. They used to refer to it as gift dressings. It was usually plain white. And it was often if something came in a box, if it was a product that you bought from a store, it came in a box, you'd want to wrap it up. Smaller gifts would typically be hung in the tree.