In which country did the idea of Father Christmas coming down the chimney and leaving presents originate?
Father Christmas Claus (complete with sleigh, stocking and chimney), leaving presents on Christmas Eve and—separately—Old Father Christmas. The Stocking of the title tells of how in England, "a great many years ago", it saw Father Christmas enter with his traditional refrain "Oh! here come I, old father Christmas, welcome or not ..." He wore a crown of yew and ivy, and he carried a long staff topped with holly-berries. His dress "was a long brown robe which fell down about his feet, and on it were sewed little spots of white cloth to represent snow". As the US-inspired customs became popular in
Father Christmas come like Father Christmas, / Robed in green and beard all white? / Will he come amid the darkness? / Will he come at all tonight?" The French writer Max O'Rell, who evidently thought the custom was established in the England of 1883, explained that Father Christmas ""descend par la cheminée, pour remplir de bonbons et de joux les bas que les enfants ont suspendus au pied du lit."" [comes down the chimney, to fill with sweets and games the stockings that the children have hung from the foot of the bed]. And in her poem "Agnes: A Fairy Tale"