Children are notorious for asking questions and although many adults wished that they had all the answers, most do not. Christmas is almost here and if your youngster is old enough and curious enough to start asking questions about Santa Claus, but as a parent you are stump for the answers, here are some facts about Santa Claus that should help parents come out looking smarter than the average bear.
1. How Old is Santa Claus?
Fact: According to The Everything Christmas Book, Santa Claus goes back to antiquity, but it was in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that he became to be viewed as he is now viewed today.
Answer for the child: Santa has no age. He is timeless.
2. Does Santa Claus have a first name?
Fact: For all intents and purposes, the myth or legend of Santa Claus evolved from an actual person, a man of God and an Archbishop by the name of St. Nicholas.
Answer for the child: Yes, his first name is Nicholas.
3. Does Santa Claus have parents?
Fact: St. Nicholas’ birth was unexpected and consider by his parents, whom had thought that conceiving a child was impossible for them, a miracle.
Answer for the child: Yes, Santa Claus had parents who loved him very much.
4. What does Santa do all year around?
Fact: Part of a Dutch legend about Santa Claus, or St. Klaus, says that Santa Clause spends the majority of the year in Spain.
Answer for the child: Santa Claus likes to travel but he prefers to spend most of his time in Spain
5. Is Santa Claus Married?
Fact: There is no historical information that says whether or not Santa Claus was married, but considering that St. Nicholas was an Archbishop and a man of God, it might be best to assume that he had no wife or children. But remembering an old American animated television special about Santa Claus, and one in particular, he was married.
Answer for the child: I think either yes or no could be a good way to go. But just to be on the safe side say, I do not know.
6. How does Santa Claus manage to deliver so many presents to so many people in one night?
Fact: There is a town in Indiana called Santa Claus. They receive thousands of letters from children around the holidays, as a result they usually have volunteers on hand to help out with the large volume of mail.
Answer to the child: Santa Claus has people all around the world to help out where needed, adults like mommy and daddy.
7. When did Santa Claus get his reindeers?
Fact: Moore, A Bishop of the Episcopal Church in New York City and a professor at General Theological Seminary wrote poetry. One Christmas Eve, Moore recited his newest poem titled,”The Night Before Christmas.” It was in this poem that Moore described Santa Claus as being a jolly man, who flew around the world in a miniature sleigh with eight tiny reindeers.
Answer for the child: Santa Claus has had his reindeers for a lot of years. They are older than mommy or daddy, even grandma and grandpa.
8. What country is Santa Claus from? Is Santa Claus American?
Facts: St. Nichols came to America in the sixteenth century from a country now called Western Turkey.
Answer for the child: Although Santa was not born in America he came to the United States to start a new life. He originally came from a country called Turkey.
9. How does Santa Claus know when we are naughty or nice?
Fact: According to the Dutch, Santa Claus or Sinter Klaus had a servant named Black Peter (a Moore) who kept careful records of the behavior of girls and boys around the world.
Answer for the child: Santa Claus has an assistant named Peter. His main job is to keep records of every child in the world and to write down when they are being naughty or nice.
10. Where do the elves come from?
Fact: In the nineteenth century, two men helped to define the mythology of Santa Claus. One of those men was Thomas Mast ,who drew Santa Claus for Harper’s weekly, and a American writer named George P. Webster. From the naughty and nice list, to presenting Santa Claus as a jolly old man, to him living in the North Pole, we can thank these two men for these details.
Answer for the child: Way back when there were two gentlemen named Webster and Mast who had this idea that Santa Claus needed some help. So they came up with this idea that people called elves could help Santa. They wrote Santa about it, and he thought it was a great idea, then he preceded to find elves from all around the world and ask them if they wanted to help him. They said yes.
