Version 1

Christmas 2000

 

I was sitting on the beach at Cape May right after Labor Day last year enjoying the tranquility that comes when most of the vacationers go home from the shore and their youngsters are, once again, making the lives of some teachers more exciting by the hour. My daughter, the one from Colorado, was still visiting us at the Cape with her two young boys, and the boys were entertaining no thought of returning to Colorado. Zachary wasn’t starting kindergarten until sometime later in the month and the irrepressible Mr. Ian was being spared the indignity for one more year.

The boys had been in and out of the water so much, they look waterlogged.

Finally they come back to where grandpa is sitting under a beach umbrella

Grandpa says “ you better enjoy the water as long as you can, boys, because when you go home to Colorado, it will be too cold to swim. And besides, Zachary has to start kindergarten.

They talk about this for a short time.

Granpa’s says “ pretty soon after you go home, you’ll start getting ready for Santa Claus.

There is no S.C. says Zachary.

Is too says Ian

(this goes on for a while)

Isn’t there a S.C. asks Ian

Tell him there isn’t, says Zachary

Well, Zachary, I don’t know why you say there isn’t a sc. I remember hearing that when I was a boy. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now.

Well Grandpa, last Christmas I saw mommy and daddy putting all our gifts under the tree after their Christmas eve party when I was supposed to be sleeping.

If you were supposed to be sleeping, how did you see them

I wasn’t sleeping, grandpa, and I watched them through the mirror in the hallway. We see a lot of things that way.

Well Zachary you’re twelve, right? You’re too young to understand.

I’m not twelve, grandpa, I’m only six. You know that. Don’t you?

Oh, I’m sorry, Zachary, I must have mixed you up with Ian.

Grandpa, you’re being silly, I’m only four, says Ian.

I was just seeing if you were paying any attention, Ian. I know you are four. But in a few months you’ll be five and by this time next year I’ll have to listen to the same garbage from you.

Why do you believe there is a S.C., grandpa?

Do you really want to know?

Is this going to be one of your long stories, grandpa? Zachary asked.

Do you want it to be?

Just prove him wrong, grandpa, Ian says.

 

You boys know we’re in the twenty first century don’t you.

What’s a twenty first century grandpa? Asks Ian?

There was a look in Zachary’s eyes that told grandpa he would like to have asked that question first since he was just as curious as his younger brother – but he didn’t.

I’ll try it a different way. A long, long time ago in a place called Anatolia there was a rich man who became a priest in the early Christian church. His name was Nicholas. He lived about three hundred years after the first Christmas took place in Bethlehem and…

“where is Anatolia, grandpa, asked Zachary. And where is Bethlehem? Ian piped in.

“Oh Ian,” said Zachary, “Bethlehem is near Allentown.”

Anatolia is now called Turkey and it is at the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea. Look no more geography And that’s enough geography, let’s get back to sc.

Father Nicholas became the bishop of Myra, in Lycia, near present day Denmere which is on the southhern coast of Anatolia or Turkey and built a church for his congregation.

In his congregation there was a poor family which had three daughters. Because they were poor, and couldn’t offer a thing called a dowry, there was little chance that the parents would ever be able to marry their three daughters honorably. Family honor was very important. Now before you ask, a dowry is a valuable gift that is expected by the grooms family from the bride’s family. A wedding date was to be worked out for the wedding of the oldest daughter, but the father knew he could not afford a dowry. No dowry– no wedding. His family would be disgraced in Myra.

Bishop Nicholas heard about this and took a bag of his gold one dark night, walked past the home of the poor family and threw the bag in the window so that the family would be able to offer a dowry at their oldest daughter’s wedding.

The next year, the Nicholas heard about the poor family’s problem marrying off the second daughter and did the same thing. And the following year, when it was time to marry off the third and youngest daughter, the Bishop tried to throw a third bag of gold into the family’s window—but the window was closed. The more than resourceful bishop climbed the one storey to the roof and dropped the bag of gold down the chimney and fled back to his church.. Where do you think the bag of gold landed? “Probably in the fire,” said Zachary. “I don’t know,” said Ian. “Where did it land?”

“The bag of gold bou8nced off the sides of the chimney as it dropped and fell into one of the stockings the youngest daughter had hung to dry by the fireplace. And thatt’s why we still hang our stockings on the fireplace every Christmas eve – or on the radiator if you happen to live in the city.”

People heard about the bags of gold and thought it a wonderful thing to do. A long longtime later when the Bishop was made a saint and was known then as Saint Nicholas people started exchanging gifts in celebration of the saint’’ day, December 6.

What does that have to do with S.C., grandpa? Zachary asked.

Yeah, grandpa, piped in Ian

Zachary, let me hear you say his name as if it was one word. You know Saintnicholas.

Zachary tried and did a good job. Now say the name three times without stopping.

Now say it five times without stopping and say it fast./

What did that sound like Ian, grandpa asked.

It sounded like santaclause

Over the years the name Saint Nicholas has come to be pronounced SC, at least here in this country. He’s known as Pere Noel in France, Grandfather Frost in Russia and Father Christmas in England. As time went on also the people began observing December 25 as the birthday of Christ and the exchanging of gifts started to take place on Christmas Day.

But that doesn’t mean there is a S.C., grandpa, Zachary offered triumphantly. How would he get around the world to everybody all at once.

S.C. is a spirit. Do you know what a spirit is? Yeah it’s a ghost that haunts houses like on Halloween. Yes it’s something like that. Let me ask you, are ghosts real. Yeah piped in both boys.

The spirit of Saint Nicholas is real too and is still with us after about 1800 years. So if ghosts are real and haunt houses, S.C. is real and causes people to give gifts. At Christmas. The idea of SC spread all over what was the world in those days and people added to the story. There was an old Norse god named Odin who had a marvelous white beard and had an eight legged horse. The beard became part of the sc story and the eitgh legged horse became s’s eight reindeer

But how does he get all those gifts around the world? In the sleigh?

The sleigh is little more than a symbol any more. With federal safety inspectors and animal rights activists these days S.C. has had to look for more efficient ways to get the gifts around I expect he uses Federal Express and the post Office and every other package delivery service around to gets the toys and dolls to all the children. But the world had become so big, you know, there are so many more people in the world than when I was a boy, that we’ve had to get back to the early days of Christmas and exchange gifts among ourselves. I guess that’s what yoyu saw Mommy and Daddy putting under the Christmas tree. But you know they can’t do everything. S.C. still comes through.

I think it’s time we went back to the house. Will you guys help me carry the towels?

 

 

 

 

I wouldn’t be too sure of that young man.