True Story of Santa. How Santa Grew Over Time

The True Story of Santa
How Santa Grew Over Time--literally

Santa no longer travels in such punishing and hirsute company as he did in the German-speaking countries.

If the kids you know wonder why, you can say it's because Santa has derived much of his identity from his Irish and British ancestors, who believed that fairies and elves scampered invisibly through the woods, sometimes harming people, and sometimes giving gifts. During the 12 days of Christmas, these creatures were especially active.

Santa traveled to the United States in the 1600s, with Dutch settlers in New York. His name first got newspaper publicity here in 1773. Before there was television, newspapers were the media that created American idols.

Santa got his big break in 1809 when Washington Irving, in his satirical work, A History of New York, wrote about Santa riding a horse through town on the Eve of Saint Nicholas. Irving cut Black Peter out of the picture, though, leaving Santa as a solo act--not unlike Justin Timberlake is today.

Santa made it to the big leagues in 1823, with the publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas, which is better known as The Night Before Christmas. Even though he was a celebrity at this point, and had teamed up with an ensemble act of eight reindeer, Santa wasn't all that we now know him to be. Rather, he was described as an elf (one who would fit in a chimney, no less).

Nearly 40 years later, Santa's empire had expanded substantially. You might say that he had a monopoly, although the federal government has discreetly looked the other way.

In Harper's Weekly, the illustrator Thomas Nast depicted Santa in his huge workshop at the North Pole. What's truly remarkable about this is that the first explorers to reach the North Pole didn't get there until 1909, and rumor has it that they missed the actual spot (which would explain why they didn't get footage of Santa and his elves at work).

As his business grew, Santa attained physical stature as well. He was depicted as a full-sized man by 1931, when his image was used in Coca-Cola advertisements. Eight years later, he formed his partnership with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, as recounted in a poem written by a Montgomery Ward employee--a poem sent home with holiday shoppers back in the days when people who had red noses just lived with them instead of having plastic surgery.

Although it's not clear when Mrs. Claus came into the picture, some of Santa's detractors say it was a public relations stunt designed to divert attention from the fact that Santa lived with a bunch of elves. Nonetheless, the marriage seems to have endured. There is no record of any separation, legal or actual, and no family therapist has written a tell-all about any woes they might have endured.