St. Nick...

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
-Luke 2:11 (King James Version)


There has been quite a bit of complaining going on about the commercialization of Christmas...and rightly so.

However, even though Santa Claus (A.K.A. St. Nicholas) is sometimes vilified as a secular replacement for Jesus (whose birth it is that we celebrate) this "fictional" character is actually based upon a real person, who lived in the 4th century A.D. (That A.D. business also having been based on Jesus' birth)

According to Wikipedia:

Saint Nicholas (Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος, Aghios ["holy"] Nicolaos ["victory of the people"]) (270–6 December 343),[3][4] also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a saint and Greek[5] Bishop of Myra (Demre, in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker (Greek: Νικόλαος ο Θαυματουργός, Nikolaos o Thaumaturgos). He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as is common for early Christian saints.[6] In 1087, his relics were furtively translated to Bari, in southeastern Italy; for this reason, he is also known as Nikolaos of Bari. His feastday is December 6.

So, let's not be so quick give this old guy a bad rap:


It seems that celebrating Christmas in the proper way is what he was all about...long before any of us were even born.

As for that commercialization of Christmas business?

Blame the businesses. ;-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
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