It was a way for parents to keep the holiday magic alive for little ones when there was no money for anything else.

Many families, without the money to buy gifts, would instead scrounge up what baking materials they could and would leave cookies for Santa in lieu of gifts for themselves.

In America, it is generally agreed upon that although the tradition may have began in Europe, it was strengthened here during the depression when many parents wanted to teach their children that it was better to give than receive. When people eventually made the switch from edible ornaments to glass ones, children fretted about Santa going hungry and began to leave “the decorations” out on a plate for him. Field command ships are geared more towards out-and-out combat than their fleet command counterparts, though both ships can hold Command ships. The story over there goes that Santa, wiped out from his long journey, would snack on the tree’s decorations as he laid out gifts for the children. If you turn from the Netherlands to Germany, one could make the argument that our offering of cookies to the man in red is an evolution of the decorations that people hung around traditional paradise trees.Ī paradise tree was basically an earlier version to today’s Christmas tree only it was decorated with real food - preferably sweet things - like apples, breads and cookies. The thing about traditions is they rarely have a singular source - and cookies for Santa is no different. Once there, Odin would leave gifts for young ones as gratitude for feeding his beloved horse.Įven today, many Dutch families continue the tradition and would never think of going to bed on Christmas Eve without leaving out a carrot or two for good ol’ Sleipnir. Kids would leave out treats (apples, water and hay) for the horse to try and entice him to stop by their house. His sleigh - yes, he had a sleigh - was pulled by an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. In fact, many scholars believe its roots can be traced back to thousands of years ago - all the way to Norse mythology.Īccording to mythology, Odin was the king and ruler of the gods of Asgard and every year, he would lead out a spectacular Yuletide hunting party. Older tradition had the ritual reversed with stockings hung by the chimney stuffed with sweets for Santa, not from him.īut leaving cookies for Santa didn’t just start 100 years ago, it goes back. The tradition has been going strong in the United States for nearly a century, but it didn’t use to be the case. SOUTH CAROLINA - On Christmas Eve, millions of children across the country will set out a plate of milk and cookies as a snack for Santa Claus - a “thank you” for the gifts he leaves in stockings and under the Christmas tree.

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