I Believe In Santa Claus
December 23rd, 2015
Growing up in Philadelphia my birthday and Christmas were the two best days of the year. Call me materialistic but I loved receiving gifts. I still do. Giving presents to my daughter should feel better than the gifts I received as a child and it’s pretty close. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad person. Maybe the belief in Santa Claus had something to do with it. I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was very young; about 6 years old maybe. I could hear my mom staying up all night wrapping and refurbishing. I pretended to believe in Santa Claus til I was much older. If the people giving me gifts wanted me to believe in Santa, that was exactly what I was going to do.
My daughter has never believed in Santa. At least not from my mouth. Her mother and I couldn’t agree on telling her if there was a Santa or not so we told her that her mom believes in Santa but I do not. When she asked me how the gifts from Santa got under the tree I simply told her that I didn’t know and couldn’t explain it. My choice not to teach her to believe in Santa Claus is not a popular one but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell this massive lie with the same mouth that I tell her that I love her and that Jesus is Lord. I want her to have no record of me telling her a falsehood. She said she feels a little ripped off that she never got to believe in the magic of Santa Claus.
I did however tell her that I believed in the spirit of Saint Nicholas and that it could fill every person and the world on Christmas day. Saint Nicholas was very real and is the patron saint of children and sailors. He was born on March 15th, 270 in Myra to wealthy parents. He died on December 6th, 343 but not before leaving his mark on the world. Saint Nicholas become a bishop in 317 A.D. He was inspired by the words of Jesus,”Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor. Saint Nicholas gave away much of, if not all of his inheritance. He became well known for his generosity. He is accredited with several miracles including the reformation and resurrection of three butchered children. This event didn’t circulate until years after his death. Most notable is the dowry he paid for three impoverished maidens. (Women needed money from their fathers in the form of a dowry to marry a quality suitor) Some say the dowry was 3 gold balls which have become 3 oranges in some parts of the world and pouches in others. One of the pouches or balls fell into a stocking or shoe that were drying by the fire thus in some parts of the world shoes are left out in the hope of finding coins in them. We hang our stockings by the fireplace for the same reason. Another miracle came about while on a vessel. Nicolas prayed to calm a storm and resurrected a sailor who had perished during the event. Saint Nicholas was barely 5ft tall and had a broken nose. He was said to be a staunch anti-Arian and punched Arius in the face. This of course may have nothing to do with his broken nose. Also, instead of the rosy cheeked pale man that we have come to accept as Santa Claus mid evil artist depicted him as a very dark skinned man.
Believing in Saint Nicholas is my way of believing in Santa Claus (from the Dutch Sinterklaas). And in that I do believe firmly. So what ever Santa Claus means to you believe in the goodness and generosity of this one man and believe that others can exude this giving spirit at least once a year. It is also very important to me to remember that Jesus is the reason for even a man as great as Saint Nicholas. Until next time, Merry Christmas and keep your homes well.
I am Santa Claus – YouTube
Merry Christmas in other languages including Klingon
References:
Saint Nicholas – Wikipedia
Who is St. Nicholas – St. Nicholas Center
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