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It is no surprise that the first Christmas carolers were a bunch of rowdy drunks. Caroling originated as a pagan winter soltice celebration - Christmas was unfettered joy and drunken revelry with some prayer thrown in.
Back in the day medieval carolers went house to house singing, begging for food and spirits or threatened to throw rocks through windows if refused. The rowdiness grew so rapidly that Christmas was banned in the US in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Ancient soltice celebrations often lasted 12 days with the tradition of burning the yule log referred to in song - finding the largest log to last 12 days for light and warmth.
Santa Claus was no jolly St. Nick, European legend had no elves but an imp of a devil creature called Krampus who beat and kidnapped naughty children.
Giving gifts is a custom that developed differently in various cultures. The point in history when Christmas converged as a shared practice was Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem A Visit From St Nicholas or The Night Before Christmas of a Santa with reindeers and stockings. The tree became a must do tradition in 1848 after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were featured in a magazine with their Christmas tree.
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer was created by Robert L. May an employee of Montgomery Ward department store in 1939.
All that and more are part of a holiday special The Real Story of Christmas on the History Channel in December.
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