Santa - the man. the myth. the legend.

This Christmas season has been very interesting. Woodstock has been asking all kinds of questions. At first, the hubby and I decided to just ignore Santa Claus. We've just been trying to focus on Jesus. Woodstock knows Christmas as Jesus's birthday. Which has lead to some very funny conversations with him. He has had a lot of confusion because we've been absolutely bombarded with Santa. I find it very annoying. Every decoration, every store, every cartoon on t.v., every person we see....it's all about Santa. On our recent trip to Alabama Woodstock started really asking alot of questions. EVERYONE we saw asked him what Santa Claus was bringing him for Christmas. He had no idea what they were talking about. To him Christmas is Jesus's birthday party and because He is so special everyone gets presents (from everyone else...people not Santa). Now everywhere he looks and everyone he talks to keeps talking about Santa. Obviously, the ignore Santa thing wasn't working. I decided to look up the story of St. Nicholas and tell him where Santa came from. Then explain that people just dress up as Santa as pretend and it's not real. I didn't even know the story of St. Nick. It's interesting, although I had to preschool it down a bit. There is some thing about some travelers being killed and cut up and St. Nick prays for them and brings them back to life. I stayed away from that stuff. I just told him that there was a man a long time ago named Nicholas. He loved Jesus so much and wanted everyone to know about Him and celebrate His birthday. Nicholas decided to give presents out to all the boys and girls on Christmas who didn't have presents. Now people like to pretend they are him and handing out presents. We now call him Santa Claus. Woodstock just said o.k. He's soaking it all in now. We did have a really funny conversation the other day. It went like this.
Woodstock: Mommy, can we have party hats on Christmas for Jesus's birthday.
Me: Sure
Woodstock: O.K. We can make a birthday cake and get a rocket ship and fly up above the clouds to heaven and sing happy birthday to Jesus on Christmas.
Me: That sounds like fun. I don't know if we can do that. One day Jesus will be back down here and then we can sing happy birthday with Him.
Woodstock: I think He will be back soon, maybe tomorrow.
Kids say the cutest things. In case anyone wants to know some facts for when the kids ask questions.....here are some.
Why do we hang up stockings?
According to tradition, the original Saint Nicholas first left gold coins in the stockings of three poor sisters. One night the girls went to bed, leaving their stockings drying over the fireplace. Knowing how desperate the family was, Saint Nicholas threw three bags of gold coins down the chimney which landed in the stockings. Since then children continue the tradition of hanging up their Christmas stocking on Christmas Eve, hoping to find it filled with gifts the next morning.
Why do we have a Christmas tree?
The tradition of the Christmas tree started in Germany. It's said that the church reformer Martin Luther was returning home one winter's night when he saw the stars twinkling in the sky through the tree branches. Enchanted by the sight, he cut down a small fir tree for his own family, brought it indoors and decorated it with candles. The custom spread all over the world. The Christmas tree first arrived in England in 1841, brought over from Germany by Prince Albert to remind him of his homeland. It was decorated with hand-blown glass ornaments, and soon the royal Christmas tree custom was being copied by families around the country.
Who's Santa Claus?
The story of Father Christmas begins with a real person, Saint Nicholas, in the fourth century. He had a reputation for being generous and kind and legends grew about the miracles he performed. These legends gradually died away over the years, apart from in Holland, where he was known as Sinterklaas. Dutch colonists took the Sinterklaas legend to what is now the United States, where his name became Santa Claus. He was originally pictured in a long brown robe and furs with a holly crown. The jolly Santa character in a red and white suit that we know today was adopted by Coca Cola for an advertising campaign in the 1930s.