For me, the jolly bearded man in the red suit represents the original Saint Nicholas who was known for his generous heart and benevolent actions. As such, this provides opportunities to teach about these worthy attributes, the motivation behind them, based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.

If people ask if I believe in Santa Claus, I respond, “yes,” but it may not be the Santa they had in mind.

In like manner, I do not reject the Christmas manger scene, even though it has changed in ways that give me some distress. The image we have now is not like the original event itself. It has evolved. Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus were Middle Eastern, dark-skinned Jews – and not from my Scandinavian heritage and with my modern Western world ways of thinking.

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