Family

---

December 6 is the official date celebrated by other countries in honor of Saint Nicholas, or as in America, referred to as Santa Claus. The title of this article was taken directly from a website that gives the historical background of this Saint and all of his activities. December 6 was stated as the date to celebrate simple gift-giving so that this celebration would not take way from the true reason for Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I was raised on a Christmas with Santa Claus in it, and all of my relatives, still encourage it, even with our children. But my heart ached. Something is wrong here and my heart would not be still. So after 3 years of struggle, God has led me to new thoughts about Santa Claus.

Being a homeschooling family, the first thing we did, was to do research. What we found out about Saint Nicholas, was that he gave to the poor and needy, not to the children who were well off. He also had a heart for helping and protecting children. After his death, people in Europe celebrated his spirit of giving and loving children on December 6 or before that.

So now we had the job of weaning ourselves from Santa Claus and to start thinking about the real man and what he was all about. Giving up an imaginary Santa Claus was easy, the real Saint Nicholas fit our beliefs much better.

Next came, the gift giving on Christmas Day, December 25. That was a little harder, because so many friends, including Christian friends, still participate in this tradition. So we made a compromise for our family this year. We would give gifts to each other and friends around Thanksgiving, because we consider this the day of bounty and the day we would give thanks to God for the so many blessings He has bestowed upon us.

What a blessing this has been in our lives. Now when Thanksgiving is over, all of my shopping is done, all the gifts have been opened and now we are ready to concentrate on the true reason for the season. We can spend quality time with God, family, friends and the community in need.

So it is our start and for next year I am going to try an outreach to our the poorer families in our community from our church. I would like to call it a Saint Nicholas Workshop. The purpose of this will be to get as many toys donated and put out in our fellowship hall. Then invite as many people that we can find, that cannot afford Christmas gifts for their children. Each family will be given 2-3 coupons for each of their children and they will be invited to shop, each coupon being good for 1 toy or other gift. I would also like to have craft tables set up, so that anyone can make gifts if they like (for example, ornaments, gift bags and cards, etc) There would also be a gift wrapping table. It would be nice if it was a two day event in case there were some special requests or needs. If we can have food there, all the better. It would be a way not only to give gifts at this time, but also a way to spend time with these families and introduce them to our church and church familiy. Anyway, it’s an idea.

Hopefully all of you and your families will have a blessed holiday and will rejoice in the reason for this season. Glory be to God and for His Grace, which He showed us by sending His precious Child.

P.S. For those who are interested in the web page on Saint Nicholas, just search for 'Saint Nicholas Center, discovering the truth about Santa Claus'. The site will come up, with that information.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE