[hinckley buzzard]

If I'm remembering correctly, the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony didn't celebrate Christmas with trees, etc, either.

You are probably right. The Christmas Tree was imported into the celebration of Christmas by Martin Luther in Germany. He used the tree to support candles, which when lit represented the stars on the night of the Holy Birth.

Whether it was a previous pagan symbol I neither know nor does it matter. But no, I would guess Puritans had not picked up on the custom.

[SuziQ]

'Santa Claus' was introduced into the US by Dutch immigrants based on their Sinter Klaas. He visited the children on St. Nicholas Day with his helper Black Peter.

I believe the modern interpretation of Santa as the 'jolly old elf' came from the text of "The Night Before Christmas", and from Thomas Nast's illustration of the poem.