Things St. Nicholas ACTUALLY Said…

No, “Ho, Ho, Ho,” isn’t his quote. Neither was the idea of checking a list twice, flying reindeer led by a bright nose, or Home Alone (although it is nearly perfect).

Christmas for the Christian is an odd time. On this day, Christmas Day, all of us (well, some of us) wonder why we tell tales of a large man sneaking in our house while we slept to deliver the gifts we purchased and assembled.

Strange tradition, huh? Strange…or, maybe creepy.

The good news is that the real model for “Old St. Nick” is Nicholas of Myra, a catholic bishop, who died on this day in 343 and later became the model for Santa Claus. He was pretty remarkable. Consider his thoughts:

“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic Gods giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.”

The admonition stands in contrast to much of what I experience during Christmas. But, the real St. Nicholas could change our hearts. It did for Anne Frank – yep, that one. She wrote:

Once again St. Nicholas Day
Has even come to our hideaway;
It won’t be quite as fun, I fear,
As the happy day we had last year.
Then we were hopeful, no reason to doubt
That optimism would win the bout,
And by the time this year came round,

We’d all be free, and safe and sound.
Still, let’s not forget it’s St. Nicholas Day,
Though we’ve nothing left to give away.
We’ll have to find something else to do:
So everyone please look in their shoe!

~ Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Once again, on Christmas Day, everyone look in your shoe and give it away!