Elf was a Christmas-related publication by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast. e Thus in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland, the modern children's folklore of Santa Claus typically includes small, nimble, green-clad elves with pointy ears, long noses, and pointy hats, as Santa's helpers. They make the toys in a workshop located in the North Pole. The role of elves as Santa's helpers has continued to be popular, as evidenced by the success of the popular Christmas movie "Elf". The fantasy genre in the twentieth century grew out of nineteenth-century Romanticism, in which nineteenth-century scholars such as Andrew Lang and the
Christmas in Ireland English expression "Happy Christmas" is more common in Ireland than its American English equivalent of "Merry Christmas". Ireland is a predominantly Christian country and Christmas plays an important role in religious aspects of Irish life. There are large attendances at religious services for Christmas Day and Christmas Eve, with Midnight Mass a popular choice for Roman Catholics. It is also a time for remembering the dead in Ireland with prayers being offered for deceased at Mass. It is traditional to decorate graves at Christmas with a wreath made of holly and ivy. In many homes in Ireland the traditional crib,