As defined in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language the present-day Santa Claus is "the personification of the spirit of Christmas usually represented as a jolly old fat man with a white beard and a red suit, who brings gifts to good children on Christmas Eve." Nowadays Santa Claus is generally viewed as a merry old man who brings joy to children throughout the world once a year on December 25th. However, Santa Claus was not always a man dressed in red with black boots and eight tiny reindeer. Santa Claus actually originated from a man of God named Saint Nicholas. There are many different ideas of how the stories and traditions associated with Saint Nicholas came to be.

Saint Nicholas was once a young boy and did not start out as a saint. He was the son of a wealthy...