PERSON: I believe...

When I was growing up and began to ask who Santa was, my mother was quite convincing:

“Don’t ask so many questions. When you stop believing, he stops coming.”

I was 28 when Santa decided I had it figured out.

As we navigate adulthood, it can become hard not to become cynical about Santa Claus. Life just gets too hard. We have to make hard choices. We have to deal with things not of our making.

And we forget about what Santa Claus really represents.

After supper the other night, I curled up on the sofa and noticed “Miracle on 34th Street” was about to begin. It’s been a couple of years since I last watched the 1947 movie classic that launched young Natalie Wood’s career as the skeptical six-year-old whose spirit, imagination, and joy had been dampened by her mother’s own disappointments.

It took the arrival of Santa Claus to show two people hurt by an imperfect world that faith in things unseen can always triumph over the damage caused by others.

When I was growing up, Santa Claus represented excitement, toys, anticipation, a Barbie dream house, joy, a James Bond race car set (my mother squelched that one)…
As a mother, Santa was the personification of innocence. He was a giving spirit who loved everyone, who looked for the good in people, who wanted to be everyone’s friend.

Sadly, Santa Claus has become the symbol for a selfish and cynical world that is never satisfied. Santa Claus has become the poster child for “buy more than you can afford this Christmas.” And he has become a target for people who, like the mother in the movie, have been emotionally scalded by the boiling pot of water we call “life.”

Yet if we know the story of St. Nicholas from whom Santa Claus was derived, we realize that we have taken Santa Claus all wrong.

St. Nicholas was born in the third century to wealthy Christian parents, not in a department store in New York.

Orphaned at an early age, Nicholas was inspired by the words of Jesus instructing His followers to sell what you have and give to the poor. The young Nicholas used his entire inheritance to aid the sick, needy and suffering. He held a special place in his heart for children.

During his lifetime, Nicholas was named a Bishop in the Roman Catholic Church and attended the Council at Nicaea in A.D. 325. He died on December 6, 343 A.D. Today, that date is “St. Nicholas Day.” Over time, the traditional day for Christmas became December 25th.

The spirit of St. Nicholas was brought to the New World by explorers and settlers. But the Protestant Reformation vilified Catholic saints, so the altruistic practices of St. Nicholas were all but obliterated during the religious rebellion.

It was not until the American Revolution that 200 years of the English gift-giving customs were supplanted by an American-led revival of the spirit of St. Nicholas. It was in 1822 that Clement Clarke Moore, the son of the Bishop of New York Benjamin Moore, penned “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” the poem we know as “The Night Before Christmas."

Through the ages, societies have fought wars of faith and religion. The fight over St. Nicholas — our Santa Claus — is no different. He represents the good of the world, the innocence of children, and the opportunity for us to emulate the Magi through the giving of gifts as they did to the Christ Child.

It is the season of anticipation as we await the Birth of the One who saves us from ourselves. Celebrate with the innocence of children and the faith of St. Nicholas.
“But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Helen Person is a former Winder resident. She can be reached at HAPerson.VA@gmail.com.