Christmas is great.
It is the perfect opportunity for the old me to be a child. No one really notices if I yell and scream in the delight of Christmas. People turn a blind ear when I sing my own version of Christmas Carols. I’m even allowed to yell out of car windows as we travel the streets, admiring the house lights. At Christmas, everyone can be a child again.
I have come to think that Christmas is one of the longest running gossip stories – ever! It’s incredible, really. Today, the spreading of the story would be accomplished with a few comments on facebook and twitter and a couple of stories on Wikipedia. Emails and texts could be sent and everyone would know the story within a day!
I’m impressed that the Christmas story managed to spread across the world, without the use of technology – and that the story is still one of the biggest in the world! Millions of people continue to spread the story of the big guy in his red suit, flying across the Christmas Eve skies in his reindeer-drawn sleigh.
The big guy is real!
The red suit is real!
The reindeer.... maybe not.
Santa Claus was born around 280 AD, in Turkey, to rich parents. He was a monk and became the Bishop of Maya, where he was known as St. Nicholas. His robe was red and he rode on a white horse. He was the ultimate good guy, spreading generosity and kindness all over Europe. He was especially protective and giving towards children. The stories of him had started to travel!
The real gossip story involved three sisters. Being so poor that their father could not afford a dowry, he was looking at selling one of them into slavery. Hearing this story, Saint Nicholas went to their house one night and secretly threw three bags of gold down the chimney. Ha! Imagine! A bag of gold fell into each of the girl’s stockings, which were hanging by the chimney to dry!
The story continued to spread and the children of Europe began leaving shoes and stockings out at night, hoping they would be filled with chocolate and fruit.
The story reached other countries through the Dutch colonists, as they travelled the world. They brought all of the stories of Sinterklaas (meaning St. Nicholas). Over-excited children repeated the name Sinterklaas so quickly that it became Santy Claus.
Over many centuries, the story has continued to live. Sinterklaas still wears a red suit and stockings are still left out at night. Gifts are still delivered through the chimney.
Santa Claus really is real!
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