Giving or Getting: Who was Santa Claus?

Santa Claus...Sinterklaus...Saint Nicholas. I'd like to introduce you to the mall St. Nicholas. Your child sits in his lap; he asks, "Who do you want to give a gift to this Christmas?" Or maybe, "Which poor person can you help this Christmas?" He encourages children to write lists of how they can be gifts to others during this season.

Since St. Nicholas Day was on Sunday, our history and geography lessons for last week were about a man name Nicholas who was born between 200-300 years after Jesus. He lived in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. His parents were wealthy, and at their death, Nicholas inherited it all. This man loved and followed the teachings of Jesus, giving his wealth to the poor and showing God's love. Many of the stories attributed to Nicholas are of uncertain veracity, however we learned that historical sources support the story of his supplying dowries for a family of poor young women. What is certain is that this man embodied the love of God and became an emblem of giving.

A few years ago, we stopped opening our stockings on St. Nicholas Day since memories of opening stockings on Christmas morning were so important to Philip. Other than making sure the kids knew the story of the "real Santa Claus," I hadn't found a good way of making the day special for them. Since this year, December 6 was a Sunday, I knew which shoes the kids would be wearing and that they would be putting them on in the morning, so I decided to put a few coins in each of the kids shoes. Hollis was the first to discover, "Hey, there is money in my shoe!" It didn't take the girls long to recall the story of St. Nicholas. Meriel's response with a delighted smile, "St. Nicholas must have put it there!" The girls decided to take their 10 baht piece to church as offering or a as a gift to a beggar on the way to church and save the smaller coin for later.

On Christmas and throughout the year, may we remember those who have lived before us as examples of Christ. Instead of wondering how Santa Claus could fly through the air and how long it would take him to visit every house (maybe an interesting future math and geography project, though), we choose to look to the example of St. Nicholas as a man who gave of himself just as Jesus gave Himself, which is, after all, what Christmas is all about.