Well, tomorrow, Christmas will be here. I’ve always liked Christmas and the Christmas “season.” Seems like this time every year, people are just a little nicer and most people are generally in a better frame of mind.
I hadn’t thought much about Santa Claus for a number of years, but in the last few, with the arrival of grandkids, he’s come up more often. I know Santa Claus is from the North Pole, but I wonder how he chose a place like that to live? You’d think he’d opt for Miami Beach or someplace warm. And his name — Santa Claus — I wonder if Claus is his last name or middle name? I’ve never known anyone named Santa besides, well, Santa.
Turns out that the legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. He was born and lived a couple of hundred years after the birth of Christ in what is now modern-day Turkey. St. Nicholas was quite a guy and became the patron of lots and lots of groups, ranging from sailors to entire nations.
But he became a legend when he became known as a patron of children and a magical gift bringer. A number of stories detail his devotion to children and his kindness shown by delivering gifts to them.
For hundreds of years St. Nicholas was the unchallenged bringer of gifts and the toast of celebrations centered around St. Nicholas Day, on December 6.
In 1821 an illustrated poem (The Children’s Friend) was instrumental in shaping the modern Santa and associating him with Christmas. The poem took the magical gift-bringing of St. Nicholas, and handed this duty to Santa. The poem indicated that Santa brought gifts to good girls and boys, but he also carried a birch rod for those not so good. The poem’s Santa rode in a thin wagon and was pulled by a single reindeer.
Then in 1822, Clement Clark Moore wrote “The Night Before Christmas” — it went “viral” and the modern Santa was born.
Some people think Santa Clause detracts from the real meaning of Christmas — I don’t agree. Santa Clause isn’t just someone that knows when you’re naughty or nice and brings presents. Santa Clause represents goodness, generosity, kindness and brings along that “Christmas Spirit” we all wish could stick around all year. But it’s good that that spirit gets renewed every year. As I mentioned a little while back when discussing the Polar Express adventure we took with Emily, it’s mostly about believing… and every year about this time we all seem to believe a little more in good and a little less in evil. So thanks, Santa.
Merry Christmas to all.
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