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Feast, Christmas tree
Description of this motif: The church has celebrated Christmas since the 4th century, at the same as and replacing the former roman solstice ceremony. This history of Christmas plays no significant role in the context of Hans Christian Andersen, where modern customs are described, as for example in "The Fir Tree" and "The Little Match Girl", and where the Christian story about the birth of Jesus (Luke 2) is the feast's religious core.
There was a student, who lived in the garret and didn't own anything. There was also a grocer, who kept shop on the ground floor and owned the whole house. The household goblin stuck to the grocer, because every Christmas Eve it was the grocer who could afford him a bowl of porridge with a big pat of butter in it. So the goblin stayed in the grocery shop, and that was very educational.