Additional recognition was given in Austin Thompson's 1876 work 'The House of Santa Claus, a Christmas Fairy Show for Sunday Schools'. During this time, Godey's was immensely influential to the birth of Christmas traditions, having shown the first widely circulated picture of a modern Christmas tree on the front cover of its 1850 Christmas issue.

The image of the elves in the workshop was popularized by Godey's Lady's Book, with a front cover illustration for its 1873 Christmas issue showing Santa surrounded by toys and elves with the caption 'Here we have an idea of the preparations that are made to supply the young folks with toys at Christmas time'. The Christmas elf appeared in literature as early as 1850 when Louisa May Alcott completed, but never published a book titled Christmas Elves. In Medieval Europe, elves were seen as nefarious and were often linked to demons. In various regions of Europe there were similar supernatural beings that can be connected to elves, such as kobolds from Germany and house spirits named brownies in Scotland. The elf character is most likely to have combined this Norse legend with other Scandinavian and Celtic cultures and myths regarding elves, fairies and nature spirits. The origins of the elf are said to have been derived from Norse mythology, which refers to the álfar, also known as huldufólk 'hidden folk'. The association of Christmas presents with elves has precedents in the first half of the 19th century with the Scandinavian nisse or tomte, and St Nicholas himself is called an elf in A Visit from St. Nicholas with attributes of various European Christmas traditions, especially from English Father Christmas and Dutch Sinterklaas. folklore in the early 17th century from St. They were first introduced in literature by Louisa May Alcott in 1856.

Santa's elves are often said to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of his reindeer, among other tasks.

They are most often depicted as humanoids, but sometimes as furry mammals with tails. Christmas elves are usually depicted as green- or red-clad, with large, pointy ears and wearing pointy hats. In English-speaking cultures, a Christmas elf is a diminutive elf that lives with Santa Claus at the North Pole and acts as his helper. Western folklore creature An elf on a Christmas ornament

Free online games helping santa elf