18th-century America's Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle (1)_____ to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning “Christ child”, Christkind is an angel-like figure often (2)_____ by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home (3)_____ Christmas Eve to fill children's stockings with holiday treats. Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. In some regions of Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman called Babushka (4)_____ gave the wise men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn't find Jesus. Later, she felt remorseful, but could not find (5)_____ to undo the damage. To this day, on January 6, Babushka visits Russian children leaving gifts at (6)_____ bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven. In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

Planting the Seeds of Change

The Green Wave project aims to help meet the goals of the United Nations Convention (7)_____ . Biological Diversity by (8)_____ young people on the importance of biodiversity. In an ambitious program, students from schools all across the world (9)_____ to mark the International Day for Biodiversity by planting a single tree of an indigenous or locally important species. At 10 a.m. local time on May 22, 2009, (10)_____ student groups will each plant or water their tree — uniting to send a „green wave‟ from east to west around the planet. Promoting planning, research and learning about nature, long-term care and commitment, and encouraging team-work and partnership across countries and continents, The Green Wave (11)_____ a positive step toward (12)_____ biodiversity all over the world.