THE LEGEND OF ST NICHOLAS THE RED SUITED SANTA Part one – Genesis of the Gift Giver

 

During this narrative I will be answering the eternal question which is all pervading during the festive season namely does Santa Claus really exist?

Obviously, the answer we want is a resounding yes and so it will be.

Secondly, I will be exploding the popular myth that it was the Coca Cola Company who were responsible for the red suited image of Santa.

 

St Nicholas is known by many different names around the world and he undoubtedly a legend.

The legend began in the 4th century A.D. in what is now Demre in modern Turkey.

Nicholas was a Christian priest and was born in 280 A.D. in the Lycian city of Patara near the ancient city of Myra where he later became Bishop.

 

Nicholas was the son of a wealthy man and when he inherited his father’s wealth, he travelled the land helping the poor and sick and he was greatly admired for his piety and kindness.

He became the subject of many legends for example he was said to have brought a dead child back to life and he once saved the life of a prisoner by putting himself between the condemned man and his executioner also he is said to have stopped a storm in order to save three sailors from drowning.

But the most enduring and perhaps the best known of the Nicholas legends was when he secretly left golden dowries at the house of a poor man who was on the verge of selling his three daughters into slavery or prostitution.

The dowries meant the three poor sisters could be married.

This remarkable event has led to a tradition we still celebrate to this day as the sisters had left their stockings by the fire to dry and it was in the stocking where Nicholas placed the gold.

Despite his many secret late-night visits to the homes of the poor and needy of the city he is forever known as the gift giver of Myra.

 

In the year 303 A.D., Diocletian the Roman emperor commanded all citizens of the Roman Empire to worship him as a God.

Nicholas and his fellow Christians believed in but one God and in all conscience could not obey the Emperor.

In his Anger Diocletian threatened the Christians with imprisonment if they did not comply.

Many Christians including Nicholas defied The Emperor and were imprisoned.

Nicholas was confined to a small cell for almost ten years and suffered greatly but never wavered in his beliefs.

It was In 313, when Constantine replaced Diocletian to become the first Christian Emperor and Constantine’s first act was the release of the Christians and upon his release Nicholas returned to his post as Bishop of Myra where he continued his good works until his death on December 6, 343.

On his death he was sainted to become St Nicholas the patron saint of Children and sailors.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – WINTER SONG (2019)

In the true spirit of the holiday season storeowner Clio (Ashanti) befriends Fred (Stan Shaw), a former jazz musician down on his luck, and welcomes him into her shop to perform for the customers and they form a special bond over music.

Besides their love of performing, Clio and Fred also have their share of family struggles in common, for Clio, she must grapple with the first Christmas since the death of her father, while for Fred, a reunion with his daughter Mia (Sashani Nichole) is just what he needs to give him hope in his life.

Together with the power of music and love the two find the strength to overcome their hardships.

A wonderful movie with a great performance by Stan Shaw who shined in his role, but the music was the heartbeat of the film. 

SATAN RULES KO

 

If you’re a worshiper of Satan

And you suffer from Dyslexia

Take care before you commit

You may sell your soul to Santa

Snippets of Downshire Life - New Year’s Day

 

Mornington-By-Mere is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.

It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12^th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.

In addition there were a number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which form the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside where Martin Carnell lived with his wife Julie in a small two bedroom cottage on the banks of the River Brooke.

 

On New Year’s Day he woke up annoyingly early, having had a disturbed night, as he was unable to sleep, and the reason for that was a guilty conscience.

So he got up and left Julie sleeping and went downstairs where he sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and thinking about the source of his anxiety.

What was bothering him was the simple fact that he had lied to his wife.  

They had only been married for a few months and up until that Christmas he had never done it before, and in the space of a few days he had done it twice, and his deceit hung heavy on his mind.

The first time was on Boxing Day when he feigned a migraine to avoid driving to Childean to spend the day with his parents and the second was on New Year’s Eve when he told her that the car battery was flat so they couldn’t get to Shallowfield for a party at her sister’s house.

Two totally different lies but both motivated by the same thing and that was the desire two spend every minute of their first Christmas and New Year on their own.

He quickly made a New Year’s resolution to never lie to Julie again.

 

They were due to eat New Year’s Day lunch at her parent’s house in Forestdean, which he didn’t want to go to because he wanted to keep Julie all to himself, but he had no choice he couldn’t lie again so at nine o’clock he stopped his ruminations and made Julie a cup of tea.

 

Five minutes later, tea mug in hand, he was on his way upstairs to wake his lovely wife when the phone rang, so he stopped and did a U-turn and picked up the phone.

“Hello”

“Martin?” the voice said “it’s Gordon”

Gordon was Julie’s Dad.

“Hi Gordon, Happy New Year” he said

“Yes Happy New Year” he responded vaguely

“Is everything ok?” Martin asked

“No” he replied, “not at all, it’s Maggie”

Maggie was his wife,

“She’s been throwing up most of the night, so we thought it best to cancel lunch as a precaution” he continued “I’m sorry to let you down”

“Nonsense” Martin said, as he punched the air, “These things happen”

“I suspect it’s been brought on by two much rich food” Gordon elaborated “but just in case it is a bug we have decided to quarantine ourselves”

Martin suspected it was more likely brought on by too much Pinot but he didn’t say that, instead he just said

“Very sensible”

 

After he had put down the phone he continue his journey up the stairs to his sleeping wife.

After tiptoeing into the room he put her tea on the bedside cabinet and slipped into bed beside her.

Once he was under the covers he leant over and kissed her neck and as she stirred he cuddled up behind her and began kissing her ear.

“We don’t have time for that” she purred

“Oh I think we do” he retorted and nibbled her lobe.

“No we don’t” she reiterated “You’re forgetting about lunch at my parents”

“No I’m not, it’s been cancelled” he told her and she rolled onto her back and gave him a suspicious look

“Why?”

“Your mum’s throwing up” Martin said “Your Dad thinks it might be a bug”

“It’s more likely too much Pinot” Julie said and laughed, until her demeanour changed suddenly.

“So we don’t have to get up and go out” she mused

“Correct” he agreed

“Oh goody” Julie said and wrapped herself around him “We get to spend the whole day together just the two of us”

“We do” he said and kissed her

“And without pretending to have a migraine or a flat battery” Julie added

“What?”

“You know perfectly well what” she said

“You mean you knew all along?” he asked

“Of course”

“So why didn’t you say something?” Martyn asked

“Because I didn’t want to go either” she admitted and kissed him passionately which lead to them having a very late lunch at home.