ADVENT: GIVING LIKE SANTA CLAUS

The True Santa Claus Story

Not a traditional figure in Armenian Christmas celebrations, our "gaghant baba" was once more associated with winter and New Year, to later be Westernized into the familiar jolly figure in red.  The name Santa Claus comes from the Dutch for St. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors, children, and gift-giving.  A 4th-century Bishop of Myra (southwestern Asia Minor), very little is known of the saint's life except for famous legends.  He was depicted as a kind-faced man with a white beard, often in a bishop's garb.  He is also pictured riding a white horse followed by a cart full of parcels he left a different homes.  Children would stuff stockings with hay for St. Nicholas' horse and would often find candy and small gifts in return.

Honoring St. Nicholas gives us a way to celebrate charity and to reflect on the joy of giving.  God gave His Son as a gift to us.  Through our gift of life, we are called to become a gift for others

In honor of the good bishop, St. Nicholas:

1. Cut out Christmas trees, wreathes, and mangers out of red construction paper, two to an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet.  Fundraise for a local charity by selling each to a family or parishioner for $1.  Have your students write the name of each donor on the shape and hang them from a tree in your parish or post them on your classroom wall.

2. Go to your local Post Office and see if they have a "letters to Santa" campaign (these are letters sent by needy children or families).  Or you may contact Operation Santa Claus in New York.  Volunteer postal workers will send you as many children's letters as you request. Write to Operation Santa Claus, James A. Farley Building, 421 Eighth Avenue, Room 3023, New York NY 10199-9998. To get "Dear Santa" letters from the U.S. post office, call the toll free number, 1-877-840-0459.

Select some letters, distribute them to classes or parish families, shop for what's needed, and deliver them as a school, with a box of cookies in hand.

3. Operation Toy Box donates Kid Kits to American Red Cross Chapters. Each Kid Kit is a gallon-sized Ziploc bag filled with craft items and a toy or stuffed animal. These are distributed to kids who have experienced a disaster (such as flood, fire, or tornado) and are temporarily homeless. Your students can donate individual supplies such as safety scissors, half-sheets of construction paper, 8-pack crayons, stickers, glue sticks, a fun pad of paper or small coloring book, and small toys that will fit into the gallon bag.

If you can sew, you can also make fabric Craft Bags for the children.  For project instructions click to: www.operationtoybox.org/how2help.htm.

Send your filled plastic or cloth bags to operation Toy Box, Inc., 114 White’s Lane, Louisburg, NC 27549. Include the names of children who donated so Operation Toy Box can send a thank you note directly to each child. If you have questions, call (919) 554-1410.

4. Children to Children has delivered more than 10,000 backpacks to foster kids. Each bag has a stuffed animal attached to it. Elementary school student Mackenzie Snyder launched the charity when she discovered that many foster kids who move to new homes carry their belongings in plastic garbage bags. Contact your local social service agency to coordinate the details. Have kids attach a note to each bag (One idea: “God told me you could use a backpack and a cuddly friend. So I send this with love to you.”). Duffel bags without stuffed animals but perhaps with a small paperback book are also appropriate.