The 6th of December is the feast of Saint Nicholas and it provides a great opportunity to tie the life of the Saint to the contemporary representation of Santa Claus. You will need to tailor this activity to suit your own family traditions but the general idea is very simple.
You will need:
- Information about the life of Saint Nicholas
- An image of Saint Nicholas to colour in
- Pencils or crayons
What to do:
- Share the story of Saint Nicholas with your children. Depending on the age of your children you could also give them a little history as to how the tradition of Santa Claus began.
- Explain how Saint Nicholas relates to your own family traditions at Christmas time
- Colour in an image of Saint Nicholas
For example in our house we don’t have Santa Claus leave presents for our children on Christmas Eve, you can read why here, but because Santa Claus is present everywhere in commercial marketing and secular celebrations of Christmas we have adopted the position that Santa Claus – Saint Nicholas – helps us get ready for Christmas. By focusing on the sainthood of Nicholas we have been able to direct our children to Jesus’ birth without any dramas.
For information on Saint Nicholas this site is very helpful. And we grabbed our image of Saint Nicholas from here, but feel free to use any other you prefer.
You can also purchase Santa Claus statues or ornaments that have him depicted in Bishop’s garments, and this might be a nice way for including Saint Nicholas in your Christmas preparations.
Originally posted 2013-12-05 22:08:32.