St. Nicholas...Santa Claus

The concept of the American Santa Clause originated with St. Nicholas, who was born in Asia Minor in the second half of the third century.  he was known as a kind, benevolent man and made a saint because of his generosity.  in honor of St. Nicholas, December 6th became the traditional day in Europe for the exchange of Christmas gifts and the beginning of the holiday season.  Dutch immigrants to the United States brought with them their version of the gift-giving St. Nicholas, known as "Sinter Klas." American, unaccustomed to the Dutch pronunciation, turned this into "Santa Clause," who is beloved as a symbol of Christmas by children of all ages.

Candy Cane

The Meaning of The Candy Cane

Hard Candy
Reminds us that Jesus is like a “rock” dependable.

Peppermint Flavor
is like the gift of spices from the wise men.

White Candy
Stands for Jesus as the holy, sinless Son of God.

The Letter “J”
is for the Name of Jesus, our Savior.

Cane
is like a staff used by shepherds in caring for sheep. Jesus is our “Good Shepherd”.

The Color Red
is for God’s love that sent Jesus to give His life for us on the cross.
The Stripes
Remind us of Jesus’ suffering – His crown of thorns, the wounds in His hands and feet; and the cross on which He died.

12 Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The date of the 12 Days of Christmas:  Twelve Days START from Christmas, December 25th until the beginning of Epiphany, January 6th.  The 12 days count from Dec. 25th until Jan. 6th.  A way to observe this holy day.  Most church celebrated as the time three Magi or King arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus.  

On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...A Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Two Turtle Doves
On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Three French Hens
On the 4th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Four Calling Birds
On the 5th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Five Gold Rings
On the 6th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Six Geese A-laying
On the 7th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Seven Swans A-swimming
On the 8th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Eight Maids A-milking
On the 9th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Nine Ladies Dancing
On the 10th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Ten Lords A-leaping
On the 11th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Eleven Pipers Piping
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love sent to me...Twelve Drummers Drumming

For nearly three hundred years, it was against the law in England to be a member of the Catholic Church.  Well, that didn't keep Catholic parents from wanting to teach their children about God, but in order to do so they had to be creative.   They used a secret code hidden in the song to teach their children abut the things of God.

"My True Love" represents God, who gives all the gifts in listed in the song.
"A partridge in a pear tree" is Jesus, who give His life on a tree (the cross).
"Two Turtle doves" symbolized the Old and New Testaments.
"Three French hens" are faith, hope, and love.
"Four calling birds" speak of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
"Five golden rings" correspond to the first five books of the Bible, also-known as the Pentateuch.
"Six geese a-laying" stand for the six days of creation.
"Seven Swans a-swimming" are the seven gifts of the Spirit - Roman 12:6-8
"Eight maids a-milking" point to the eight beatitudes - Matthew 5:3-10
"Nine ladies dancing" signify the nine fruits of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23
"Ten lords a-leaping" represent the Ten Commandments.
"Eleven pipers piping" are the eleven faithful disciples.
And Finally
"Twelve drummers drumming" call to mind the twelve points of the Apostle's Creed."

A Visit from St. Nicholas

23 December 1823

The poem “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel; the verse, more popularly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” was later attributed to Clement C. Moore.

The Nutcracker

18 December 1892, Tchailovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" publicly premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Nutcracker Tea

Come and join me for

"Nutcracker Tea" party

Cancellation stamps

Nutcracker

Did you know…?

Now a Christmas classic, Tchaikowsky’s Nutcracker premiered on December 18, 1892 less-than-favorable reviews. Poor casting and the audience’s unfamiliarity with the plot kept the performance from being considered a success. Happily, the music and the story have endured, and audiences worldwide now look forward to this beloved ballet every holiday season.

~~ Emile Barnes - The 12 Teas of Christmas

The Heart of Giving

What is a true gift?
One for which nothing is expected in return.
Ancient Proverb


A season of joy for those who believe that
It’s more fun to give than it is to receive.
T.J. Mills


What bring joy to the heart is not so much the friend’s gift as the friend’s love.
Saint Ailred of Rievaulx


To give in the Name of Jesus means giving from the heart,
Not just buying something because it’s expected.


You may be surprised at how creative God can be. You may
Also be encouraged, because he already knows your budget
And would never have you spend more than you can afford.


The finest Christmas gift is not the one that costs the most money, but the one that carries the most love.



Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.


We make a living by what we get:
We make a life by what we give.


Every gift, which is given, even though it be small, is great if given with affection.

St. Nicholas

I believe in Jesus Christ and that Christmas is the day that we celebrate his birth. I also let my nieces, nephews and great nieces believe in St. Nicholas but they also know the true meaning of Christmas.

CHRIST M.A.S. CHRIST is the M.magic A.ll S.eason!  Santa is in us all!

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I know St. Nicholas existed he was a bishop.

St. Nicholas (270 - 343) is popularly known as Santa Claus but he was an actual Bishop from Asia Minor (in modern day Turkey)! Although his family was wealthy, he was kind and generous. Once, he secretly threw bags of gold into a poor man's house, helping the man’s daughters get married. This is why children still wait for St. Nicholas' secret gifts today. Remember that ‘Santa Claus’ loved Jesus very much and was a faithful servant of God! St. Nicholas’s feast day is on 6 December.


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 A couple of years ago, a friend came to me with a problem. The problem had to do with her son.

My friend: "Catherine, my son is going to ask the question this year. What am I going to tell him?"

Me: "Which question?"

My friend: "The question. About Santa Claus. He's going to point-blank ask me if Santa is real. I don't want to dash his hopes. But I can't lie to him."

Me: "No, you cannot lie. But, perhaps you can soften the blow by telling him about St. Nicholas. He isn't living at the North Pole, or even still alive for that matter… but he was a real person and he did inspire the legend of Santa Claus."

My friend: "St. Nicholas?"

So I educated my friend about St. Nicholas, hoping to help her bridge the gap in her son's life between the North Pole and the cold, hard truth.

Who was St. Nicholas?
He was in fact, a real person. St. Nicholas was born in or around 270 in the city of Patara, Lycia, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He was the only child of a wealthy couple who both died of an epidemic when Nicholas was young. He inherited his parents' wealth and was raised by his uncle, a bishop. This uncle put a great deal of effort into educating the young Nicholas, who followed in his uncles footsteps becoming a priest and later the Bishop of Myra. Many legends surround St. Nicholas which highlight his generosity and willingness to share his wealth among those who needed it the most. In the coldest part of winter he was said to have walked the streets at night under cloak of darkness, dropping gold coins into the socks which peasants had hung out to dry. This is where we get our modern-day tradition of hanging stockings by the hearth on Christmas Eve.

St. Nicholas is one of the earliest and best-known Saints and one of the most prolific to be pictured in works of art. Even after the Protestant Reformation when the veneration of Saints was discouraged among protestant Christians, St. Nicholas maintained his popularity. He died on Dec. 6, which subsequently became his feast day. Thus, Dec. 6 was considered a day of good fortune for gift purchasing, giving or for marriages. Many countries around the world still commemorate this feast day bygiving small gifts or treats, especially for children.

St. Nicholas made his appearance in the United States in 1773 when a New York newspaper reported Dutch families gathered to celebrate his feast day. In Dutch, St. Nicholas is Sint Nikolass – nickname Sinterklaas – which became Santa Claus in English. From there, the legend goes off the rails and somehow St. Nicholas morphed into a jolly, portly fellow living in the North Pole, working with elves and driving a sleigh guided by magical, flying reindeer, one of whom has a supernatural glowing nose.

So, I explained to my friend, St. Nicholas was indeed a real person whose life has inspired generation after generation to give generously and plot secretly to surprise others. In a way, everyone who draws out a plan to surprise or delight another is a Santa Claus. You could say that all of us together make up Santa Claus. While the individual might not be real, the sentiment is very real.

My friend, however, still wasn't thrilled about breaking the news to her son. I shrugged, and told her, "If he's still upset, then you'll just have to make him laugh."

"How?" she replied.

"By telling him he's a boy, one day he will be a man and isn't he lucky? Because there are four stages in a man's life:

1: You believe in Santa Claus.
2: You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3: You are Santa Claus
And finally:
4: You look like Santa Claus."

By Catherine Viola

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor---

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to have men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive of imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest mean, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Advent

We begin a new liturgical year as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent. Today's readings are set the pace for the weeks that follow.  They invite us to enter into a time of anticipation.  The Latin word adventus means coming or arrival.  and in this season, we celebrate Jesus' triple coming: his coming into human history when he was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his coming into our lives now in his Word and in the sacraments of his Church, and his coming in glory at the end of time.  The readings tell us how to anticipate his coming: be vigilant, be prepared, be hopeful.

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Advent begins today!

So how do we celebrate the story of Christmas?

For me, celebrating Advent is a big part of telling the story of the First Christmas.

The Season of Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas.

Simple.  Lighting candles and reading scripture.

You need 5 candles and a bible.(3 purple, 1 rose and 1 white)

A Simple Life.

To all my friends:
May the Season of Advent fill your Hearts with Love, Joy and Peace.

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Today is the first Sunday of Advent. In a 1996 Homily, Blessed Pope John Paul II said of Advent,
"Advent is the liturgical season that prepares us for the Lord's birth, but it is also the time of expectation for the definitive return of Christ."