Becoming Santa Claus

A nine-year-old boy asked Santa how he could be the same person as St. Nicholas when Google said that Nicholas died in 343 AD. Santa replied, "Ho-ho-ho! So THAT'S how they explained my disappearance?! Well.., let it be." An observer pressed the issue with Santa. WHAT disappearance?! Santa granted an interview and Becoming Santa Claus: An Origin Story is a faithful record of that talk. Nicholas had wealth, standing, and a full life in Myra. But all around him he saw families struggling to survive and children growing up without joy or hope. He tried to help, but soon learned that open charity could wound the very dignity he hoped to protect. So he gave in secret. In a city where everyone knew him, secrecy could not last. If the work was to continue, Nicholas would have to leave behind comfort, recognition, and the only world he had ever known. The road ahead was filled with uncertainty and peril, but he kept moving. His search for anonymity carried him farther than he could have imagined, through trials for which he could not have prepared. And in the end, the man who tried to disappear would receive a name he never sought. A name that would become legend.