IS SANTA STEALING THE LIMELIGHT?
The history of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas dates all the way back to possibly 280 A.D. If you were good ("Christ-like", angelic) you received a gift from Saint Nicholas, while the bad little kids had to face Krampus and the possibility of being taken in a sack to the black forest. That was the story I grew up with. When we moved to the States, Krampus had thankfully dissipated. I think he was held at the border by homeland security. The real Saint Nicholas, a benevolent person who helped children and went around giving selflessly and generously to the poor and needy is a far cry from the man we know today as Santa Claus. The man in the red suit with a big tummy and a white beard pasted on, that hangs out mostly in the malls and has little kids sitting in his lap gets all the credit. Little people called elves make the gifts we find under the tree on Christmas day (the ones retailers hope we will buy lots of). It all started this year as my family began a conver