𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

Many, many years ago Santa was making his annual Christmas Eve trip and it had been going rather smooth. Australia and then New Zealand were his first stops. He made a great start and quickly delivered all of the presents to the two countries. Asia was next and he again quickly delivered all of the presents to the continent. Where he ran into trouble was while he was flying over Egypt. With all of the hard work of delivering presents and the warm evening, Santa quickly became quite hot. He decided he would take off his heavy red coat and store it in the back of the sleigh. He secured the reins attached to his 8 reindeer (Rudolph had yet to join the team at this point) to the front of the sleigh, stood up, turned around, and began to take off his coat. As soon as he got one of his arms out of the sleeves of his coat he felt a crash. It turns out he had accidentally jerked one of the rains when he steadied himself in the sleigh. This caused the reindeer to veer to the right and then correct course, but not before the sleigh took off the nose of the Sphinx! Santa stopped and checked on the reindeer and inspected the sleigh for damage. Thankfully, the reindeer were unharmed and the sleigh was intact. It was when he went to check his list that he saw the consequence of the accident. He no longer was on the Nice List, but the Naughty List instead! Santa made the rest of his deliveries and went back to the North Pole to inform everyone what had happened. The elves were beside themselves and Mrs. Claus showed concern (between stifling laughter). Santa then spent the next few months working extra hard doing kind acts. He helped muck out the reindeer stalls. After a particularly busy day he surprised the elves with cookies and hot chocolate (shaken, not stirred)he had made himself. He even filled in on wrapping duty when one of the elves had a cold. Through all of his hard work he eventually made it back on the Nice List!

Let this be a lesson to all, that we all can make mistakes and sometimes end up on the Naughty List. However, through hard work and nice actions we can get back on the Nice List. It is never too late!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬

Long ago, two little boys were born on a dark, snowy Winter night. Nicholas was the first born and entered the world bright and alert. A few moments later his brother, Nathaniel was born and he seemed to have a stern and steely gaze right from birth. The boys grew to be inseparable. They played just like any children their age. They built forts, played in the snow, and made up games to play. As they grew older, their personalities shown through more and more. Although they were twins they seemed to be opposite sides of the same coin. Nicholas was joyful and cheerful. He made friends fast and seemed to see the good in everyone he met. Nathaniel was quieter and very thoughtful in his actions. He took longer to warm up to people and it wasn’t until they earned his trust. Their actions also differed. Nicholas was very charitable and would give away his mittens to cold children or any bit of his food to the hungry. Nathaniel believed lessons were best learned through consequence. As the boys grew into adulthood, they set out on the mission to help people. However, they did this in their own way. Nicholas delivered food to the hungry secretly at night. He quickly realized food was helpful, but he wanted to bring something more joyful so he started making and delivering toys to children .Nathaniel used the cover of darkness to scare those who committed wrong doings. He would wear dark robes and a hood adorned with goat horns to give himself a monstrous appearance and then scratch at their windows. He also helped spread the tale that a beastly figure would come and whip the wicked with sticks if they misbehaved. Soon word began to spread of the Winter Saint and the Winter Shadow that patrolled the village at night. The years passed and Nicholas and Nathaniel eventually grew older and their beards turned as white as the snow. However , the most miraculous thing happened. One day they simply stopped aging. It was as if they reached their peak age and then simply stopped aging. Decades turned into centuries and the brothers still kept up their mission. One of charity and the other of justice. They eventually agreed that they should focus their efforts on a bigger scale and attempt to visit everywhere they could in one night. It was at this point they adopted new names. Nicholas chose Santa Claus because it sounded like another name he had been given, St. Nicholas. Nathaniel, ever the little brother, adopted Krampus. Krampus came from the German word “Krampen”, which means claws. He did this as a slight dig to his brother’s name. Eventually the brothers separated to perform their unique goals more efficiently , but they still get together every Christmas Eve briefly. If you listen close you can hear Nicholas’s joyful laugh and Nathaniel’s booming chuckle.