I should have specified about the elves. They've always been around as mischievious little cirtters, but didn't gain much fame until J.R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings gave them a little spotlight.

By elves, I meant "Little people" (that's what they're called in history, anyways), abd they're not necessarily the same things as elves- they're just, well, little people. After the witch hunts and around the time that X-mas was gaining more fame, people were like, "Dude! Where'd the little people go?!" so stories were made up to say that the little people went off to live in safety with Santa Clause. And because we associate the characteristics of elves and little people, it was only natural that the Little people would become known as elves, rather than little people...sighs. I guess that sounded kind of lame, but that's my attempt at clarifying.