"Christmas gift" is an exclamation traced back to the early 1800s in the southern United States. It is derived from the tradition of waking on Christmas morning and rushing to say "Christmas gift" before anyone else. The person being told "Christmas gift!" is expected to present the person saying it to them with a present. While "Merry Christmas" is the common and current seasonal salutation, "Christmas gift" was an equivalent expression used in the rural south and also in southern Pennsylvania, Ohio Valley, West Virginia, and later in northeastern Texas as a simple greeting and recognizing the birth of Christ as a gift.