St Nicholas Day

Dear Diary,

It is St Nicholas day and I thought I would post a couple of the Santa ornaments from my tree.  I have many of them.  Some, like these, represent trips I have taken.  The Irish Santa with his pot of gold is my gentle nod to a wonderful country that I've visited many times.  The one on the right is St Nicholas, patron saint of children.  He is holding a tiny model of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.  I visited Russia in 2004.

Growing up Protestant, I didn't study the lives of the saints much.  I do enjoy reading about them now though.  Our "Santa Claus" is based on St Nicholas of course since his story is so tied to giving and charity.  I remember worrying about how Santa was going to get into my cousin's house since they didn't have a chimney for him to slide down.  My aunt said they just left the front door unlocked.  Made sense to me!

We always went to the stockings "hung by the chimney with care" first on Christmas morning to see what Santa had filled them with.  By the time my little sister came along I had stopped believing in Santa but having her awakened all the magic of Christmas for me again.  What I have come to realize over a lifetime of Christmases is that "Santa" is, indeed, alive and well in the hearts of those who embrace the true meaning of Christmas.  Symbols are powerful things and when we strip away all the commercial trappings of Christmas, there you will find the gentle St Nicholas.  I don't have a Christmas list any more.  Everything I want for Christmas can't be bought.