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The Legend of St. Nicholas

Who is that man in red? The man who, every Christmas Eve, brazenly breaks into people's homes, helps himself to cookies and milk, and leaves things behind resulting in a mess of wrapping paper and ribbon for others to clean up the next morning. Reindeer and a heavily laden sleigh can't be good for the roof. Soot from a chimney tracked all over the floor…something else left behind for others to clean.

Yet every year we anxiously anticipate his arrival, track his progress through the skies, and welcome him into our homes.

Santa Claus can be traced back many centuries to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father when he provided them with a dowry so they could be married. Over the course of many years, Nicholas' popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

Sinter Klaas Comes to New York

St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.

The name Santa Claus evolved from his Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society's annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a rascal with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a "huge pair of Flemish trunk hose."

Shopping Mall Santas

Gift-giving, mainly centered around children, has been an important part of the Christmas celebration since the holiday's rejuvenation in the early 19th century. Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820, and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a live Santa Claus. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santas have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.

A Santa by Any Other Name

18th-century America's Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning Christ child, Christkind is an angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. British legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children's stockings with holiday treats. Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. In Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka purposely gave the wise men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn't find Jesus. Later, she felt remorseful, but could not find the men to undo the damage. To this day, on January 5, Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven. In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

The Ninth Reindeer

Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all," was born over a hundred years after his eight flying counterparts. The red-nosed wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store.

In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing red nose. But, when Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn't be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh with the light of his red nose. Rudolph's message—that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset—proved popular. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May's friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph's story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences since 1964.

Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL

We all know Charles Dickens' story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his visits from the ghosts on Christmas Eve. A story of redemption—a miserly man whose concept of the Christmas spirit is "Bah, Humbug!" Then his life is turned around after Marley tells him about his upcoming visits from the Christmas ghosts. The first one from his past to remind him of what was and the promise of what could have been, the second from his present to open his eyes to what he had become and how others felt about him, and the final visit from the ghost of the future to show him where he was headed if he didn't change his ways.

From a writer's perspective, it was the first time a story had been told from the point-of-view of a character within that story rather than an omniscient point-of-view of an unidentified narrator. Point-of-view—something vital for today's writer of fiction.

The novella, first published in London on December 9, 1843, has been a staple of the Christmas season as a movie, television show, or play for well over a century. I wondered how many different versions of Dickens' story there were. So, I did what I usually do when I want a quick answer to something…I Googled it.

And the results came as quite a surprise. Things I knew, things I had known but forgotten, and things I never knew. The Internet Movie Database lists more than one hundred versions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, including a videogame, four operas, and two ballets. More than twenty television series have episodes inspired by the novella. There was even a television movie set in the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and a couple where the character of Scrooge was portrayed as being a woman.

The oldest surviving filming of A CHRISTMAS CAROL was a short British film from 1901. There was a fifteen minute silent movie made in 1908 followed by two other silent versions made in 1910 and 1913. There have been the dramatic theatrical films, television movies, musical versions, and animated versions with very familiar cartoon characters taking on the roles of Dickens' famous characters. There was even one, considered by many to be the fan popular favorite, starring The Muppets.

I have noticed over the last few years that several game shows, especially this time of year, have used this trivia question—How many ghosts visited Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol? And most of the time the contestant got it wrong. They usually answer with the number three when in reality it's four. They seem to forget about the first ghost being that of Marley, Scrooge's former business partner, who sets the scene for the appearance of the next three ghosts.

Even though all the various productions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL tell Dickens' story of Scrooge and the visits from the Christmas ghosts, many had their own unique twist and flavor on the original. I think my favorite is a 1970 theatrical musical version titled SCROOGE which stars Albert Finney as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who learns the lessons of the spirit of the Christmas season.

SECRETS FROM THE PAST—character interview

This week, I'm welcoming to my blog Shelby Haywood and Cameron Pierce, the main characters in SECRETS FROM THE PAST, a sensual mystery/romantic suspense—my new release from The Wild Rose Press.

Welcome Shelby and Cameron. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to be here with us today.

Shelby:  It's our pleasure.

Cam:  Thanks for inviting us. So…what's on your mind?

Well, I'm curious about several things. Why would Shelby suddenly pack up and leave her lifetime home city of San Francisco and move to Seattle, a city where she didn't know anyone, for a job contract that was just a one year special project? And Cameron, why all the rumors about the mysterious past of someone wealthy and powerful who's known worldwide as a patron of the arts and for his support of many charitable causes?

Let's start with you, Shelby. You were born in San Francisco and had lived there your whole life when you suddenly picked up and moved to Seattle to take a job as a consultant with Pierce Industries on a one year project. That seems like an abrupt change to your life and for something that was temporary.

Shelby:  It wasn't as abrupt as it sounds. [Cam takes her hand in a show of support] My husband of ten years had died in a fall down the stairs in our house. Even though I had proof that I wasn't home at the time, the police had investigated, and the medical examiner ruled it an accidental death, my former in-laws harassed me non-top for the next four years, blaming me for his death. And the Haywoods usually got what they wanted. They believe the rules and the law doesn't apply to them.

Cam:  The Haywoods have been prominent in San Francisco for several generations, powerful and wealthy. I had never met Shelby before she started the consultant's job with my company. My executive vice-president negotiated her contract. I wasn't aware that she was associated with those Haywoods. I was naturally curious about why she would move from San Francisco to Seattle to accept a temporary job that only lasted one year. And then two weeks after she began work, I started receiving threatening anonymous letters. Coincidence? I wasn't sure.

Shelby:  It seemed that Cam had become the focus of some sort of a dangerous situation that included attempts on his life.

Cam: And when one of those attempts injured Shelby, I knew I had to do everything I could to protect her from being caught up in the danger that seemed to suddenly be surrounding me for reasons unknown.

What steps did you take to protect her? And what about you? As you were the target of the threats, you were still in danger. Did you consider leaving town, maybe leaving the state?

Cam:  You mean go into hiding? No. I have a large international corporation to run and thousands of people depending on me for their income. I can't simply pick up and go into hiding. I did insist that Shelby move into my house. I have an excellent security system. She would be able to work from my home office.

And did that resolve the problem of her safety?

Cam:  No. She thanked me but turned down my offer.

Shelby:  Like Cam, I can't allow my life to be controlled by fear. I did offer him another avenue, one that hadn't occurred to me earlier. My best friend in San Francisco has a older brother. The three of us grew up together. He lives in Seattle now and is a professor of criminology at the university. One of the classes he teaches is about profiling. Cam agreed to meet with him to see if he could provide some information about who would be doing this and why. It proved to be a very informative meeting that gave us a whole new avenue to pursue.

That sounds interesting. What did he come up with?

Shelby:  [laughs] It's all in the book.

[joins Shelby's laugh] Are you pulling that 'you have to read the book' answer on me?

Shelby:  [smiles] So it would seem.

Cam:  It turns out that there was a whole lot more going on than anyone ever suspected.

Could you elaborate on that?

Cam:  As Shelby said, it's all in the book.

[laughs] I have the feeling that's all I'm going to get out of you.

Shelby:  [extends a teasing grin] Maybe you'd like to hear about my first day at kindergarten?

Cam:  [laughs] I'm sure you'll enjoy that story.

Well, I see you aren't going to tell me anything more about the secrets from your past, the life-threatening danger that surrounded you, and how it was resolved. How about some information on how you handled a budding romance in the middle of all the turmoil and chaos?

Shelby:  It's all—

Cam:  —in the book.

[laughs] Thank you Shelby and Cam for being here today.

SECRETS FROM THE PAST, a sensual mystery/romantic suspense published by The Wild Rose Press, www.thewildrosepress.com  Veiled threats endanger secrets from Cameron's past and soon escalate to attempts on his life. Shelby has her own secrets that could destroy her future with Cameron…or get them both killed.

BLURB:

After the death of her husband, Shelby Haywood needs to escape the constant harassment from her former in-laws who blame her for his death. When offered a job with Pierce Industries in Seattle, she eagerly accepts but is unprepared for her instant attraction to the company's very desirable owner.

The moment billionaire Cameron Pierce meets Shelby, he knows she's what's been missing from his life. Veiled threats endanger secrets from his past and soon escalate to attempts on his life. When one attempt injures Shelby, he vows to protect her.

Shelby has her own secrets that could destroy her future with Cameron…or get them both killed.

EXCERPT:

Cam placed his hand at the small of her back as he guided her out of the building and toward the parking lot. Tremors of excitement assaulted her senses the moment he made physical contact, then the excitement stalled as it mingled with her feelings of guilt.

“I’ll follow you to your house so you can drop off your car,” his voice broke into her thoughts, “then we’ll go to dinner from there.”

Cam’s gaze quickly but expertly swept the surrounding area. He wrinkled his brow into a slight frown as he pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for the maintenance department.

“This is Cameron. We have a couple of security lights burned out in the executive parking lot. Could someone please get them replaced as soon as possible?” He listened for a moment before speaking again. “Thanks, that will be fine.” He returned his cell phone to his pocket. “Strange that the two burned out lights would be next to each other. That makes a very large, dark area.”

They stepped off the curb into the darkness, crossing the driveway toward the parking lot and Shelby’s car. The roar of an engine and screeching tires came at them from out of the dark. A hard adrenaline surge shot through Cam. Grabbing Shelby’s arm, he yanked her aside so hard they both fell to the pavement. He held her tightly as he rolled out of the way, taking her with him. The car sped off, barely missing them. It scraped against a signpost on the way out of the parking lot before it disappeared down the street into the night.

Cam cradled Shelby’s trembling body in his arms. His heart pounded as he tried to force his breathing under control. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I…I’m fine.” The quaver in her voice matched the fear on her face. “What about you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, nothing’s broken.” The image from twenty-five years ago suddenly flooded his mind as vividly as when it had happened, the sight of his innocent little six-year-old cousin being cut down by bullets meant for someone else.

SECRETS FROM THE PAST buy links:

https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Past-Samantha-Gentry-ebook/dp/B0CJG4CMYX

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1144089246?ean=2940186044321

and other online vendors

Excerpts and other information available on my website  www.samanthagentry.com 

Visit my blog, a new post on Sundays:  https://samanthagentry.blogspot.com