The story of Santa Claus started out with St. Nicholas, who was born in the third century.  His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. It is told that Nicholas was punished for his faith and was imprisoned. After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra, and was buried in his cathedral church.

A story is told that a poor man and his three daughters had to give something of value like a dowry which is either a lot of money or land to get husbands. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home, providing the needed dowries.

Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from St. Nicholas.

If you look at Christmas now, it’s a more modernized version of what it was back then. Some people still believe in the holiday spirit and still go the traditional way, but others have become more about how much the gift costs or how many presents they get. We have now gotten into the habit of letting go of what Christmas means and how special that time of year is suppose to be. We have started to be greedy and complain when our gift is not good enough instead of being grateful for what we receive.

I get it, not all people do the whole christmas tree, stocking, or leaving cookies out for Santa because they don’t think it’s necessary. Some may refer to them as “the grinch”. I understand when people say too much Christmas spirit and just enough Christmas spirit, but that doesn’t mean you have to be such a grinch. The story of St. Nicholas goes way back and in most of the stories told, there is kindness always involved. So be kind, don’t take things for granted, and don’t be a grinch.