Saint Nicholas Day

I have a Santa Claus complex.  Apparently I have had it my entire life.  When I was a little girl, my parents chose not to emphasize Santa Claus in my life and I never believed he came down my chimney and brought presents for Christmas.  I do remember getting "Santa" presents, but I knew he wasn't real and it was just a spirit of Christmas kind of thing.  In fact, I remember one year I got a Bart Simpson skateboard for Christmas from "Santa Simpson."  All that said, I guess you could say I'm not a big Santa Claus fan.

Having a child makes me think about why I do things a lot.  I especially find myself scrutinizing my words and actions when I see or hear them come out of Aria.  It is only natural that I don't plan to make a big deal out of Santa with her.  First of all, Christmas is about Jesus.  It should be celebrated as Jesus' birthday.  A friend of mine told a story that I thought was profound.  They were going shopping for "Grandpa's" Christmas present and her 3.5 year old son asked, "Why?  Christmas is Jesus' birthday?"  Good question, kiddo!  I thought her answer was awesome, too.  She said Jesus wants us to love others and one way we do that is to give gifts.  There is also the idea of the wise men bringing gifts to Jesus.  Gift giving is okay, as long as it doesn't get out of hand.

Back to Santa.  Last year, for some reason, I was really excited to find a Christmas stocking for Aria.  Once I actually purchased it, I thought, well that was dumb.  Here I am trying to down play Santa and over the top gift giving and I bought my daughter a stocking.  So, I researched where Christmas stockings came from and I learned about Saint Nicholas.  Saint Nicholas lived about 300 years after Jesus.  He was known for doing good needs and giving to the poor.  He was following Jesus' lead.  The stocking comes from a story about a man with three daughters who couldn't afford a wedding dowry.  The daughters washed their stockings and hung them to dry on the fireplace on night and Saint Nicholas put money in them to help the family out.  Saint Nicholas was a real person, but the fictional character, Santa Claus evolved out of him.  Authors and the media invented Santa out of stories about Saint Nicholas.

I really liked learning that Santa Claus was not just some marketing ploy and that Saint Nicholas was a real person.  So, we decided to honor the Saint Nicholas story and put presents in our stockings on Saint Nicholas Day, December 6.  Last year, Aria just got a "baby's first Christmas" ornament in her stocking.  This year, since we knew she could actually pull the stuff out herself, we put a few more things in there.  This morning, we told Aria to look in her stocking.  The first thing she pulled out was a three pack of toddler spoons.  You would have thought it was a million dollars!  She was so excited.  She also got crayons, an art smock, an Elmo toothbrush, a Christmas story book, and an ornament.  Every item she pulled out brought the same excitement.  It was so much fun to watch her!  Justin and I also had a few presents in our stockings and it was a fun family tradition that started this morning.  I told Aria a little bit about Saint Nicholas, but it is a story that is beyond her right now.  She is understanding that Christmas is about baby Jesus, which is the most important thing I want her to get this season. 

Even though I am not a Santa Claus fan, I'm glad I know the real story behind him and can incorporate it into our Christmas celebration.  As Aria gets older and pays more attention to consumerism, I hope this foundation will keep her grounded in the truth about Christmas.