The Meaning of Santa

Simply by writing this blog today, I am putting myself at great personal risk. If Santa finds out (and he surely will) about this, I could get nothing but coal in my stockings. Or, he may just bypass my house altogether. But, since I promised to tell of a few Christmas origins, I must press on, and I am sure he will approve. So, "laying my finger aside my nose, "....

The Jolly Old Man that is preparing his sleigh for the big trip tomorrow has his beginnings in actually in a real man. Born in about the fouth century in Europe, Nicholas as a baby showed that he was endowed with abilities far beyond those of mortal men. According to legend, he could help the sick and lame, and even raise dead sailors. He became a bishop of Lucia and upon his death was cannonized and became.... St. Nick. He was also renowned for helping those in need by giving them presents and even throwing them money.

St. Nicholas went on as a Saint in the Catholic Church until the Protestant Reformation, when those goofy Protestants renamed hims Santa Claus. They did not want to recognized him as a Saint, but the traditions were deeply entrenched in society by that time, so the protestants dropped the "ST". The real Nicolas died, by the way in December, see the similarities?

Through the years, we have come to know him as Kris Kringle and Father Christmas. We did not acknowledge his toymaking abilities until the mid-19th Century, though. And the idea we get of how he looks originated in a painting by Thomas Nast called, "Santa Claus and His Works."

But we can thank the Coca Cola Company for their contribution to the picture we of him in the present day. In 1931, the company ran an advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post that gave the world a new picture of Santa as he took of his hat, "To the Pause that Refreshes.'
Coke inundated America with pictures in magazines, newspapers, and cutouts in stores which imprinted the image into our society. For the whole story, click here to go to the Coca Cola Website.

You've probably heard the phrase, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." That comes from an editorial in the New York Sun written in response to eight-year-old Virginia Hanlon's letter asking if there was a Santa Claus. The editor of the Sun, Francis Pharcellus Church, assured Virginia in a philosophical answer, " ...Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he exists as certainly love, devotion and generosity exist...."

And so, whle people decry the materialization of Santa, he exists to symbolize hope for us. He brings us to a place where we give ourselves and open our hearts to people. And, like the Magi, he brings gifts to children, our most precious comodity, in hopes that their hearts will be open and they will go forth into the world and help the less fortunate, the downtrodden, the sick, the poor.

Tomorrow night at our house, we will, as we always have since I was a kid, put out doughnuts and milk for Santa. We will leave a carrot or two for the reindeer, and we will thank him for the presents which he is trying to give to us. Trying, you say? Yes, he is trying to give us the greatest gift we can get...

An understanding and a relationship to that first Christmas, when we rejoiced in the birth of the Christ Child and heard from angels on high, "Peace, Good Will Towards Men!"

HO-HO-HO...MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Doughnut