A few years ago I wrote an article imagining what I wanted to tell my son when he asked, Is Santa Real? I wasn't sure when the question would come, so I wanted to be prepared. Because of that, when he finally did ask, I knew just what I wanted to say.



I told my son that Santa Claus was a real person who lived a long time ago, way back in the fourth century, and I gave him a little Santa history. Saint Nicholas was a very kind and generous person who came from a wealthy family, and he used his good fortune to help others. One legend about St. Nick said that he left gold coins in the stockings of three young women who couldn't get married because their father wasn't able to afford the dowry. This legend led to our current tradition of hanging stockings out for Santa to fill on Christmas Eve and to the tradition some people still practice of putting oranges (representing the gold coins) in the toe of the stocking.

But what I stressed most to my son was the incredible impact this one man, through a life of giving and generosity, had on the entire world. Nicholas of Myra was a bishop during his life, but was sainted after his death to become "Saint Nicholas." Santa Claus, whose name comes from Sinterklaas, the Dutch nickname for Sint Nikolaas, now carries on the tradition of kindness and generosity.