Jolly Old St Nicholas

I went to Mass early yesterday morning. My eldest daughter had choir rehearsal, so we arrived almost an hour before Mass began. I sat down in our usual pew and looked across the church…..and look who I spotted seated in the next to last pew over by the Baptismal font!

It’s not the best picture. I was using my phone across the church and trying to be discreet…but do you see him?

Dressed all in red with a long white beard…

SANTA CLAUS!!!!!!

When my children got there a little while later, I whispered to them to look across the way… oh, the excited whispers that went back and forth.

They managed to keep themselves together until Mass was over and then grabbed hands and wove their way down the aisle to where he had been. He was gone!

My 6 year old managed to see him shaking the priest’s hand and then head towards the parking lot.  They were just in time to see him drive away in a red car with the license plate “HOHOHO”

They squealed and came running back to me. Had they seen him? Was he real? After a while, one of them showed the picture to our priest who smiled at them and asked “Was that St Nicholas? Well, what do you think?  It’s a Sunday a week and a half until Christmas…where else would you spot a saint except in Mass?”

**While the children were debating, their mom was asking questions…. and while he may not be the man they think he is (never say never though!), the truth is that he’s a kind and generous man who is a credit to the one he looks like. Is he Santa Claus? Some people seem to think so, and I don’t think he’d mind the comparison one little bit.