I had a dream once that brings a smile to my face each time I think of it. It’s late December, Christmas Eve actually. I’m sitting in traffic, waiting impatiently for the slow line of cars to move as I’m heading home from work. I’m hoping that I won’t be late for our little family’s Christmas Eve tradition of gathering for a quiet dinner and then drinking cocoa while reading a Christmas story before the children have to go to bed.
Far off, I see something moving in the distant sky. And to my great surprise out of the clouds a sleigh emerges pulled by a eight reindeer.
It dips down and turns on a dime and zooms back up into the bank of clouds. In the seat of the sleigh I see a figure wearing red and calling out to the reindeer, but he was too far away for me to make out the words. He looked like he was laughing and happy. He looked, well, can I say it…he looked like jolly old saint Nick! I realized that I’ve just seen Santa Claus. I pull over the car and get out. Wait, this can’t be real, can it?
As I’m standing there looking around me, I see a twinkling swirl of colors and sparkles coming right for me as if riding a gust of wind. There is ringing of bells and tinkles of chimes intermixed with the distance sounds of laughter. Before I knew what had happened, it reaches me and showers down like a soft winters snow. And suddenly I realize I’m surrounded by happiness, joy and gratitude for the Christmas season. Yes, I have been touched by the magic of Christmas. Wow! I woke up laughing and each time I remember this dream I feel calm and happy.
Yes, Santa Claus brings the magic of Christmas to young and old alike
I’ve often wondered how the stories of Santa Claus started. You see, the original figure can be traced to Saint Nicholas, who was a Christian bishop in the 4th century. After many years of living in obscurity, the story of his special kindnesses toward children became known and spread throughout Europe.
Though St Nicholas was a Christian Bishop, he is known as the patron saint of children. One day, he realized that three daughters of a poor man didn’t have a dowry as their father could not afford it. So, Saint Nicholas secretly left gold coins in the father’s shoe to help the family. Well, that was just the beginning. The tradition grew as others would find gifts left for them by Saint Nicholas.
In some area’s of the world, Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated with children gleefully awaiting it’s coming on December 6th!. On the night of the 5th, children will often leave their shoes out in hopes of finding small gifts or coins in them from St Nicholas.
As time went on, this evolved into what we know of as Santa Claus today.
In some European countries, Santa Claus is called Father Christmas. But in Italy, Santa Claus is known as Papa Noel. In Italian, “papa” means daddy and “noel” means Christmas.
In France, Santa is known as Pere Noel. The French have many fun traditions at Christmas. It’s so cool to hear about how different Christmas traditions around the world are celebrated.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20181213/the-traditions-that-make-a-french-christmas/
Some people believe that Santa’s home is actually in Lapland Finland, not at the North pole. Both places would be cold and wintery at Christmas. And both look to be very Christmassy.
In Germany, the name for Santa Claus is Weihnachtsmann which translates to “Christmas Man”. This is because the word for Christmas in German is “Weihnacht” and “mann” means man. He wears red and white, and in the past he was usually depicted as a tall, thin man with a long beard and hair.
Each year I re-read my favorite Christmas books. Or I listen to them as an audio book. One of my favorite books is about how Santa Claus became Santa Claus. For this particular book I listed to the audio version and the narrator was so good, I felt like I was listening to Santa Claus speaking and telling his story. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try and think about possibly making it a Christmas tradition to read each year, or maybe read it as a family. The name of the book is The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn.
So, you see, the history of Santa Claus is quite rich and ancient. The jolly old elf that visits our homes and leaves his special gifts is much beloved by all of us around the world.