The Waiting Is The Hardest Part
Will the Jolly Old Elf be making a stop at your house this week? Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, or whatever you choose to call him, he's getting ready for his mighty sleigh ride on Christmas Eve. So how did he become such a significant part of our Christmas traditions?
According to the St. Nicholas Center, Nicholas was a fourth-century Christian bishop born in the village of Patara, a then-Greek village on the southwestern coast of modern-day Turkey. As the Bishop of nearby Myra he was known for his generosity, particularly to children and the poor. He suffered and was imprisoned because of his faith, and died on December 6, 343 AD, the day we now honor as St. Nicholas Day in many holiday traditions. Devotion to his memory by early Christians led to his achieving sainthood in the church, and Nicholas' generous ways evolved into the gift-giving tradition we practice today. The Santa Claus we recognize in American culture evolved from Dutch and German depictions of the saint.
MPL has plenty of books and other materials on St. Nicholas if you want to learn more. Also, if you want to keep track of his whereabouts on Christmas Eve, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) will have their Santa Tracker running to give you up-to-the-moment updates on his activity. Better watch out!