Before going to bed, children put their shoes by the fireside expecting a gift from le pere Noel or le petit Jesus.  Formerly, peasants' wooden shoes, called sabots, were very popular at Christmastime, but today shoes of any kind are set before the fireplace or around the tree in some sections.  However, the sabots are not forgotten since the pastry shops make chocolate wooden shoes filled with candies which still serve as reminders of the old custom.  Every region of France is tich in traditional legends and folkways associated with Christmas.  In Provence, the great holiday is celebrated with much community spirit and joy.  In towns like Les Baux, shepherds offer a lamb to the priest at the end of the midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.  The reveillon is held in the snowy mountains or a songfest precedes the midnight Mass.  In the small village of Solliesville, the whole population gathers in order to take bread.  Twelve children are selected, and each one receives an obol of bread, meat, and candies as a symbol of the apostles.  Then supper is offered to the important townsmen and their guests.  During the Mass, the characters of the manger scene are portrayed by people from the village.  In Alsace, it used to be the custom to set up a mai in the public square for New Year's Day.  This age-old tradition may well have been a forefunner of the community Christmas tree, so popular in North America today.  Usually the tree, its lower limbs stripped, was erected near a fountain.  The term mai refers not to the month of the calendar year, as might be assumed, but rather means "to decorate" or "to adorn".  On the following day, the girls of the village who set it up assembled for a dance and the boys were allowed to take part only when the girls have them permission.  It is interesting that this tree was allowed to remain standing throughout the year as a symbol of protection for the maidens who put it there.  In Provence, the Christmas creche has a unique kind of charm.  The making of the tiny clay figures, known as santons, and the setting of the creche itself are a rare combination of childlike naivete and craftsmanship animated by simple faith and warm devotion.  For a century and a half, village craftsmen and their families have devoted their spare hours throughout the year to the fashioning of the "little saints", and these are sold at the great Christmas fairs held each year early in December at Marseilles and at Aix.
Christmas in Germany
Germany, often referred to as the country best known for "Christmas keeping", long ago made the Christmas tree its national symbol of the season, and through their love fro and their loyalty to their own traditions and customs the German people have literally spread its use all across the world.  In the Middle Ages, it was customary to hold a special observance of the feast day of Adam and Eve on December 24th.  The day was a festive one, during which plays were presented dramatizing the lives of the first dwellers in the Garden of Eve.  Among the props used on the stage was an evergreen tree decorated with apples, placed there to remind the audience of the Fall of Man.  When these folk dramas finally were abandoned by the Church, the German peasants set up evergreen trees in their homes and decorated them with apples.  On Christmas Eve, it was also the custom to light a group of candles arranged in a candlestand, often of pyramidal design, called a "lightstock".  This tradition, which signified Christ as the Light of the World, was a most appropriate symbol for Christmas Eve.  Gradually, the candles from the lightstock were transferred to the evergreen decked with apples.  Later, thin cookies were added which served as symbols of the sweets of the Redemption, since they were round in form like the Sacred Host.  In addition to their symbolic significance, the apples, the candles, and the cookies created highly decorataive effects on the tree.  This, in brief, is the origin of the Christmas tree in Christian folk tradition.  From this beginning, rich in symbolism, the festive tree has become a world-wide symbol, and nowhere beyond the borders of Germany is it more popular than in North America.  St. Boniface, earlier known as Wynfred, brought Christianity to Germany.  His early work among the German people brought him recognition from Pope Gregory II at Rome, but he returned to his adopted country to find that the eldest son of the Chieftain Gundhar was to be sacrified to the gods on Christmas Eve.  A giant oak, sacred to their patron Thor, was to be the scene of the sacrifies.  Boniface wished to destroy this pagan symbol if only to prove that the pagan deity was powerless.  After one stroke with the ax, a wind toppled the mighty oak.  The assembled throng was awed by what happened and asked Boniface for the word of God.  Pointing to an evergreen growing nearby, he replied: "This is the word, and this is the counsel. Not a drop of blood shall fall tonight, for this is the birth-night of the Saint Christ, Son of the All-Father and Saviour of the world.  This little tree, a young child of the forest, shall be a home tree tonight.  It is the wood of peace, for your houses are built of fir.  It is the sign of endless life, for its branches are ever green, see how it points toward Heaven!  Let this be called the tree of the Christ Child; gather about it, not in the wild woods but in your homes; there it will shelter no deeds of blood, but loving gifts and lights of kindness". 
The wood of the fallen oak was used to build a little monastery and a church dedicated to St. Peter.  The fir tree was cut and taken to Ghundar's great hall, where it was set up for the observance of Christmas.  This, according to a beloved German legend, was the first German tree.  Another deeply rooted story about the origin of the Christmas tree, widely told since the days of the Reformation, refers to Martin Luther.  After walking one Christmas Eve under the cold December sky which was illumed by countless stars, he returned home and set up a tree for the delight of his wife and children.  Lighting the little evergreen he had carried from the nearby woods with great numbers of candles, he used this glowing symbol to tell his children the ture meaning of the Christ Child, the Light of the World, whose birth had so gloriously brightened the sky on that first Christmas Eve.  Since there is no documented record for this story, it has been relegated to the realm of tradition, but it could well have happened; in fact, it might well have transpired even though not recorded.  Whatever the facts, like so many old traditions the story lives on and adds color, luster, and meaning to the ever-growing garland of Christmas-tree lore, the Christmas tree had been familiar to the German people long before the time of Martin Luther.  Preparing for the festive season has always meant something special in every part of Germany.  Hanging a wreath of greens bearing four candles, one to be lighted on each Sunday of Advent (the four-week period of preparation for Christmas), represents but one of many customs passed down for centuries in German culture.  Making cookies and cakes, the holiday mood of the Christmas market, the tradition of the tree and Christmas crib, and a dozen other episodes of family participation have made of German Christmas a truly extraordinary pageant extending from the first Sunday of Advent to Twelfth Night and even longer.  Holly leaves were referred to as "he" or "she", according to the presence or absence of prickles on a leaf.  Smooth-edged kinds were called "she" holly, while those that were heavily spined were referred to as "he".  Whichever kind was gathered in greated quantity for holiday decoration indicated who would rule the household for the coming year.