SANTA CLAUS – THE BENEFACTOR

Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas , Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Santy, or simply Santa is a mythical gift-giving figure in various cultures who distributes presents to children, traditionally on Dec 24th, Christmas Eve. The popular American form Santa Claus originated as a mispronunciation of Dutch Sinterklaas which is a contracted form of Sint Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas).

One of the most basic stories about the origin of Santa says he was a Christian named Nicholas, who gave gifts to the poor, and because of his Godly, charitable acts, he came to be known as Saint Nicholas. After his death, the truth of who he was, why he did what he did, and even how he did what he did came to be wrapped in fantastical myth and legend. Today, an extraordinary number of Christians decry anything whatsoever to do with Santa during the Christmas season, many seeing any attempt to link the gift-giving Santa and Jesus , as blasphemous and sacrilegious. I only have one problem with that thinking - the true spirit of Santa is still with us and in fact, he paid this Christian a visit last night.

When my friend Laura and her husband returned from Europe at the beginning of summer, they returned with clothes and books. They rented an unfurnished apartment and took their stuff out of storage and unpacked more clothes and books. With very little money on hand and only one income, they realized they would be without a wardrobe for quite a while. Thankfully, their landlord was not an unobservant fellow and by the end of their first week, he came and offered to loan them his old wardrobe, which lay unused in storage until he could get around to refinishing and refurbishing them.
That was over 2 long months ago and they still had their landlord's wardrobe for such a length of time. Laura began to regularly harangue the Lord about the absence of wardrobe in her life which she desperately needed to stuff in the clothes that she got. She just couldn't see how the Lord was going to be able to help - after all, it was only a few weeks before Christmas .

Laura's landlord lives with his aging parents. Last night, her landlord's dad, John, knocked Laura's door and asked if she wanted some furniture. She thought he might be confused .She asked him if it was for sale . John said "no" and asked Laura to go with him and take a look at something. He took her in front of an apartment door on the first floor. He opened the door and ushered Laura in.
The tenant of the apartment was moving, which was apparent by the half packed boxes everywhere. He was unable to take all of the furniture with him and had said that the landlord could keep it. John and his son thought of Laura. John pointed to a lovely country cottage style three-seater couch, a long, solid wood coffee table, and guess what......a wardrobe.

Laura truly couldn't speak because she was choking on tears. John asked Laura whether it was fine with her. Laura threw her arms around that dear old man and blessed him through her tears and told him that he was an answer to her prayer. Just then his son came into the apartment and Laura excitedly pointed out to him that Christmas had arrived early with these truly wonderful gifts she had just received. They both chuckled and then, just as Laura stepped out of the door, John said that he loved Christmas and used to play Santa every year for a number of years at one of the Universities there . Laura was not kidding when she said that as she turned and looked into that old man's face, she saw the twinkling eyes of 'Santa' — a servant of God, giving gifts to the poor!

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION


Christmas is truly a global celebration! Although the traditions and foods associated with it vary with climate, culture, country—even calendar, as in “Christmas in July”, - the spirit of the day transcends all such differences. "Christmas Celebration" is about adding joy to your Christmas by offering words that amplify this seasons' true meaning. As regards my Christmas celebration, I love the Christmas time. I love the potential in the air, the unwrapping of the gifts under the tree, and the smell of a Christmas tree in the house. It gives me immense pleasure to go outside when its snowing and see the flakes in the light of the streetlights, dancing their worship to God.
On Christmas, I enjoy sitting with others as we sing the familiar carols. I join my friends and share warmth and time, to sing and laugh and just be there. I worship our God, who gave us a gift of eternal love in the Word Incarnate, Jesus, His Son. I feel like saying Merry Christmas to one and all and laugh because we all know what it really means.

My mom sings "Glory to God, Glory in the Highest". The sound of her voice, as she reads of God's Promise fulfilled here on Earth - of a family that was more than just a family, enthralls me. I love to see my mom as she unwraps the gifts I give her, and as she laughs at the way I wrap mine. However, I don't care much about decorated trees, presents, crowded shopping malls, heavy traffic, dealing with depressed folks who've gone into great debt, etc. On the flip side of the coin is my Mom's tree. It is really Christ honoring. She has selected and collected every single decoration that hangs on the limbs. She's made scrolls and put scripture verses on them I really like what she does with our tree. We couldn't put one up this year because our home is full of boxes with just about every earthly thing we own and there is simply no room!

I do thoroughly enjoy the lights. My friends Jessica, Pat and I are going to find some time to go look at lights. You can count on that. I wish I'd thought to get a picture of the yard I which I love. The graphic accompanying this piece is my neighbor's home across the street. Tastefully done and a real joy to drive by coming home at night.
Do something this Christmas that doesn't cost anything. Play some games with your family. Go cruising, looking for lights. Have fun with family. You'll build the right kind of memories and find a reason to do it again next year.