Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in the village of Patara.

That’s in Asia Minor, which is now Turkey.

It is believed he may have been of Greek decent.

St. Nicholas became Bishop of Myra in 280 AD.

According to stnicholascenter.org , he developed a reputation as a fiery defender of Christianity in 303 AD.

Roman Emperor Diocletian rescinded Christians’ legal rights in court, forbade all assembly for worship and the burned bibles. He also demanded that they sacrifice to the Roman gods.

Nicholas stood strong. He was among the numerous priests and Christ followers imprisoned.

When Constantine took over Rome, he asked Bishop Nicholas to sit in the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.

Legends of St. Nicholas’ generosity include a story of a poor father with 3 daughters but not enough money for 3 dowries.

One night, Nicholas secretly dropped a bag of gold down the chimney. The bag fell into a stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry. This was repeated 2 more times.

Determined to discover the person who had given him the money, the father secretly hid by the fire every evening until he caught Nicholas dropping in a bag of gold.

St. Nicholas begged the man to not tell anyone because he did not want to bring attention to himself. But the news got out.

When anyone received a secret gift, it was thought that maybe it was from St. Nicholas.

Gifts, St. Nicholas, and Christmas became synonymous.

After St. Nicholas died in 343 AD, Constantine decreed the date of the birth of Jesus to be December 25 in 336 AD.

It is not recorded that he ever owned any reindeer or a sleigh.

Where did the reindeer enter into the legend of good old St. Nick?

In the Victorian era in Britain, St. Nicholas became popular when writers, poets and artists rediscovered the old stories.

Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” popularized the character of a jolly, fat man who drives a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and comes down the chimney to leave presents for children.

Cartoonist Thomas Nast added the red coat, trimmed in white to Santa Claus in a 1881 drawing.

At first, Santa only had one hard-working reindeer to pull his sleigh in the poem “Old Santeclaus with Much Delight.” He acquired 8 reindeer in Moore’s poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

In Frank Baum’s 1902 story, “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,” Santa’s 10 reindeer’s names were Flossie, Glossie, Racer, Pacer, Fearless and Peerless, Ready, Steady, Freckless, and Speckless.

Rudolph arrived in 1939 to help with that perilous fog.

Perhaps today, Santa uses Amazon, UPS or the US postal system to deliver all those presents.

Just for the record, I would love a couple bags of gold in my stocking. How about you?

Merry Christmas!