Have you ever wondered where the traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas began? Some of the traditions regarding Christmas are not found in the Scriptures, but come to us from a long history of the Christian faith. One such tradition is the legend of Santa Claus.
In the year 325 a boy was born in what is now the country of Turkey and he was given the name Nicholas. As a young man he became a Christian and devoted himself to a life in the priest-hood and eventually became the Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. As the Bishop he became known for his generosity. Once, there was a man with three daughters. He was too poor to give them a dowry so that they could be married. Their future was to become beggars or streetwalkers. When Bishop Nicholas heard about these poor girls, he took a bag of gold coins late one night and went to their house. The girls had washed their stockings and placed them on the window seal to dry. Nicholas dropped the bag of gold coins into one of the stockings and it was found the next morning. He repeated this until each of the girls had a dowry and could be married. Throughout his life Bishop Nicholas gave to the needy.