The National Confectioners Association says a choirmaster originally gave candy canes to young children to keep them quiet during long church services. It wasn’t until a German-Swedish immigrant decorated his tree with candy canes in 1847 that they became popular as a Christmas candy. 

The tradition of Christmas trees goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, who marked the winter solstice with evergreens as a reminder that spring would return.

According to legend, we hang stockings by the chimney with care thanks to a poor man who didn’t have enough money for his three daughters’ dowries. Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night, where the girls had hung their stockings to dry. That’s where the gold ended up, and how the tradition began.