The tradition of visiting the city's big department stores and shopping centres to see Santa in his grotto has been around for as long as any of us can remember.
In fact, experts say that the very first grotto appeared as part of a 'Christmas Fairyland' in Lewis's Bon Marche department store in Liverpool way back in 1879 - a world first, so it's long been claimed.
But believe it or not, there is evidence out there to suggest that Edinburgh pioneered the concept of a Santa's grotto - depending on how you define such a thing.
READ MORE: Visitor at Edinburgh Christmas Market says she 'couldn't move' in viral video
In an advertisement published in the Edinburgh Evening Courant - almost precisely 20 years earlier than Merseyside's yuletide attraction - there appears details of a Christmas event that for all intents and purposes included what can only be described as a Santa's grotto.
For the month of December 1859, the premises of artisan clockmaker F. Laule on the capital's George Street were transformed into a festive fairyland dubbed the "Grand Fancy Fair". The entire shop was decorated with a "forest" Christmas trees, with a lone pine standing proud in the centre of the store that was bedecked with “beauteous produce, refulgent with glistening spheres and bedecked with gold and silver”.
This all sounds incredible enough, but the main attraction was none other than "Good old Father Christmas" himself, who - accompanied by his elves (described in the ad as "attendant nymphs") to dish out all manner of gifts to both young and old from a "wonderful inexhaustible Christmas box". A spinning wheel of fortune was used to determine which gift customers would receive.
Sign up to our Edinburgh Live nostalgia newsletters for more local history and heritage content straight to your inbox
After sunset the George Street shop was illuminated in glorious fashion using variegated lamps and Chinese lanterns, as music from Mr Lawrie's harmonium completed the magical vibe.
F. Laule's Christmas efforts were universally praised and the festive fare was copied and repeated by other stores around Edinburgh in the years that followed.
Then, in December 1870, Houlden Brothers of Nicolson Street held their own Christmas fare, this time accompanied by a "Magic Grotto", which could well be the first occasion when such a term was used in Edinburgh, or anywhere for that matter.
The former premises of F. Laule at 79 George Street are today occupied by popular tapas restaurant Café Andaluz.
READ NEXT:
Edinburgh mum finds incredible 135-year-old message in a bottle under her floorboards
Seven awful things we remember about Edinburgh buses in the 80s and 90s
Nine Edinburgh places that made for a great day out for kids in the '90s
Lost sweets Edinburgh locals would love to see return to supermarket shelves
Incredible colour footage captures Edinburgh life in the 1950s
