Letters to Santa Claus

Nadia from Jakarta, Indonesia Wants to Know the Purpose of Christmas Dear Santa, My name is Nadia and I am eleven years old. I live in Jakarta, Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world by population, which my teacher told us with what I think was pride. My family is Muslim. We do not celebrate Christmas, but my apartment building has a Christmas tree in the lobby every December because some of our neighbours are Christian, and my best friend Clara is Catholic and her family invited me to see their nativity scene last year, which was beautiful and which I had many questions about. I have several questions for you. What is the actual purpose of Christmas? Why is Indonesia made of so many islands and how many are there really? Why do some countries have one main religion and others have many? Thank you. Nadia Putri Wijaya Jakarta, Indonesia Dear Nadia, A Muslim girl in Jakarta who went to see her Catholic friend's nativity scene and came away with genuine questio...

  How Old Is Santa Claus? How old is Santa Claus? It is a question that has puzzled curious children for generations, and the truth is that no one knows his exact age. What we do know is that Santa is genuinely ancient. The figure we picture today grew out of a real historical person who lived around seventeen hundred years ago, which means the spirit of Santa Claus is older than nearly every country on the modern map. To ask how old Santa is, then, is really to ask how far back the tradition of generosity stretches. The real man behind the legend Santa Claus traces back to Saint Nicholas of Myra , a Christian bishop who lived in the fourth century in what is now Turkey. Saint Nicholas became famous for his quiet generosity, especially toward children and the poor. The stories told about him, including gifts left in secret, spread across Europe over the centuries and slowly transformed into the cheerful gift-bringer we know today. That means the foundation of Santa is roughly 1,700...

The Real Spirit of Christmas Ho ho ho! Well now, my friends, we've come to the end of our story. And what a story it's been! We've traveled a long way together, haven't we? We met young Mary, brave enough to say yes. We met faithful Joseph, who simply did the right thing, again and again. We walked the long road to Bethlehem, knocked on every full door in town, and found shelter at last in a humble stable. We watched a baby laid in a manger. We stood with the shepherds as the sky lit up with angels. We followed a star across the world with the wise men, and we watched a jealous king's schemes come to nothing. We fled to Egypt and came home to Nazareth. And we learned that beautiful name, Emmanuel — God with us. So now let old Santa ask you the big question. After all of that, what is the real spirit of Christmas? It isn't the wrapping paper, my friends, lovely as it is. It isn't the tinsel or the twinkling lights, much as I adore them. It isn't even, if ...

Santa Explains How The Wise Men Began Their Journey Ho ho ho! So that magnificent star was blazing away in the eastern sky — and far across the world, those wise scholars I told you about made a rather bold decision. They were going to follow it. Now think about what that actually meant, my friends. These were important men. Learned men. Men with comfortable homes, respected positions, and busy schedules. They could very easily have looked up at that star, nodded thoughtfully, made a note of it in their charts, and gone right back to their warm dinners. But they didn't. They packed their bags, organized their caravans, gathered their gifts, and set off on a long and difficult journey to find a newborn King they had never met, in a country they did not know, simply because a star told them He had been born. That, my friends, takes a special kind of faith. And a special kind of curiosity, too. Now Santa knows all about long journeys — I cover an awful lot of ground myself, as you wel...

Santa Tells Everyone About the Journey Home to Nazareth Ho ho ho! Well, Mary and Joseph had fled all the way to Egypt to keep their little one safe from jealous King Herod. And in a strange land, far from home, they waited. And they waited. Doing the patient, quiet work of keeping their family together until it was finally safe to return. And in time, my friends, that day came. Old King Herod, with all his scheming and all his worry, eventually passed from the scene. And once he was gone, heaven sent Joseph another message — yes, in a dream once again, because by now you know that's how Joseph received his news. The angel said, "Get up, take the child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to harm the child are gone." And just as faithfully as before, Joseph got up and did exactly as he was told. He gathered his family once more and made the long journey back home. Now, they settled in a town called Nazareth — the very same town where this...

Santa Explains About King Herod and His Worried Throne Ho ho ho! Now, every good story has a moment of suspense, doesn't it? A bit of tension. And the Christmas story is no different. So let me tell you about a fellow named King Herod — and I'll warn you now, he is not one of the heroes of our tale. You see, as the wise men traveled, following that bright star, they made a perfectly sensible stop. They arrived in the great city of Jerusalem and started asking around. "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the East, and we have come to worship Him." Now, that's a fair question to ask in a big city. But it was exactly the wrong question to ask in front of the wrong king. Because the king on the throne in those parts was Herod — and Herod did not like the sound of a new king one little bit. When word reached Herod that strangers were wandering about asking after a newborn King, he was deeply troubled. And the Good Book tells us that ...

Mary Treasured These Things Ho ho ho! Now, with all the excitement of our story — the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, the star, the gifts, the fleeing and the returning — Santa wants to slow down for just a moment and talk about somebody who watched it all happen. Quietly. From up close. Young Mary, the mother. Think about everything this young woman had been through. An angel appeared and told her she'd have a very special son. She traveled seventy hard miles while expecting a baby. She gave birth in a stable and laid her newborn in a feeding trough. Then a band of rough shepherds came rushing in, breathless, talking about a sky full of singing angels. Later, grand wise men from far-off lands knelt on her floor and laid treasures before her child. Now that, my friends, is an awful lot to take in. That would be a lot for anyone! And the Good Book tells us something simple and lovely about how Mary handled it all. It says, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered t...