Every year, I have an unwritten rule that our home's Christmas decor is primarily Nativity centered. I have a collection of many sets and place them around the house to remind us of the true reason for Christmas.
Our children even received a Little People nativity set a few years ago. I used to put it away, but now I let them play with it all year long. One year we had all of the people accounted for except for baby Jesus. We thought he might show up on Christmas morning, but I think it was closer to Epiphany when we finally found him! (And, no, we weren't prepared with any gold, frankincense or myrrh!)
Any Santa related decor is pretty much limited to the stockings hung on our downstairs railing.
I have absolutely NOTHING against Santa Claus. He has been arriving at our house even before Landen was mobile. (He brought a dump truck and construction hat that year.) We follow the same rule in this house that I had growing up--"If you don't believe in Santa, you don't get anything from him."
As we we were returning from mass on Sunday, Landen started asking about how Santa Claus came about. I had a vague recollection of the real St. Nicholas and how he helped the poor by leaving gifts for them. I was stumped, though, when he asked me where the elves came in!
Today is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas. I've been doing a little online research to learn more about this early bishop of the church and his life. Some parts of the world open their St. Nicholas gifts on this day--Dec. 6--in order to focus more on Christ's birth on Christmas morning. A fun custom that some families have is to leave a carrot or a bit of hay in the children's shoes on the eve of Dec. 6 (for St. Nicholas' horse). Then they receive a small candy coin or treat in return in the morning.
I would like to find a children's book on St. Nicholas and how he came to be our modern day Santa Claus. If anyone has one they like, please let me know. It would be a good reminder for our children to read it each year as we make our way through advent.
There is a lot of information on the history of St. Nicholas and how families celebrate this day around the world on www.stnicholascenter.org. I found the following poem on the website.
It is entitled "A 'Word' from 'St. Nicholas'". Although the author is unknown, it is something St. Nicholas might have said and would want us to know in a world where Santa Claus and celebrating Christ on Christmas can sometimes seem so far apart.
In my own heart I cannot separate Christmas
from that Boy Child born in Bethlehem
some two thousand years ago.
I believe that Boy Child
was the Child of the Divine Mystery,
and He came into the world for love of us all.
I believe He came to bring healing,
forgiveness,
reconciliation,
freedom, and peace.
I believe He also came to invite everyone
to forget themselves and remember the needs of others.
For me, the religious meaning of Christmas
is a source of deep joy.
You must understand that my message
echoes the message of that Child born so long ago.
I am not the offspring of the Divine Mystery,
only His unworthy servant.
I am Saint Nicholas,
and the religious meaning of Christmas
will always be close to my heart.
Maybe our Santa Claus decor and the nativity sets can co-exist in harmony after all.
I'm thankful for Landen's curiosity about St. Nicholas and getting me interested in the real story. I didn't research far enough to get to the elf question, though.
Maybe I'll get to that one later!
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