The Role of Santa Claus in Christmas, Part 2 (TMF:SE25)

Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Peace to Live By: The Role of Santa Claus in Christmas, Part 2 (TMF:SE25) - Daniel Litton
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       It happens that soon thereafter the judgment idea was removed from Santa Claus, and he would in fact only bring a “happy Christmas to all.” ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ was written by Clement Moore which carries the famous phrase, “’Twas the night before Christmas…” So, Santa Claus becomes only a positive guy, so to speak, where he just brings presents and happiness to children. Moore really created the Santa Claus that most Americans know and love in our day and age. He is the bearer of gifts, brought by his sleigh pulled by his reindeer which landed on the roofs of people’s homes. But it’s in the latter half of the 1800s that we finally see Santa Claus taking shaping, literally so to speak, into how we see him today. It is during this time at we learn he goes down chimneys, and he seems to gain weight as the years pass by. The famous artist, Thomas Nast, does many drawings of Santa Claus, and these certainly contribute, and carried along, the way we see him today. And Claus’ home being in the North Pole also comes to us during this time in a poem written by author George P. Webster.