With the feast itself some other of their old customs have been handed down to us, and among them is that of bringing into the house in midwinter the boughs of Christmas green. For these far-away folk believed that wood-spirits—you know them as brownies, fairies, and elves—were living in the forests outside, and were so sorry to think of them shivering under the snow-laden trees and in damp icy caves, that they used to place in the corners of their houses great branches of hemlock and balsam fir, that “the good little people” might creep into the sort of shelters they loved and be warm. And as the heat of the fire brought out the sweet smell of the fir, it seemed to them like a “thank you” from their friends of the summer woods. Thus they, first of all men, felt the wish to give which is the heart of the Christmas spirit. And soon they began to hang little gifts for their unseen guest upon the green boughs, and to make them bright with the berries of holly and ash. After that it may be that some night hunter, crouching in the underbrush, looked up to the stars, and felt that his tree was incomplete without twinkling lights. However that may be, the custom of trimming the house with evergreens, holly, and lights at Christmas time is an old, old one.
I saw Three Ships come sailing in
I saw three ships come sailing in,
On Christmas day, on Christmas day;
I saw three ships come sailing in,
On Christmas day in the morning.
And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas day, on Christmas day?
And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas day in the morning?