Who Was St. Nicholas? Sinterklaas? Santa Claus?

With just four days before christmas, have you ever wondered ... WHY? What is the real meaning of Christmas? Who was St. Nicholas? How does that relate to our Santa Claus of today? How did the Santa Claus tradition begin?

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Stills & Prohibition Era & Laura Margaret (Westfall) Fox

We had an interesting email from Scott Stewart (email: scottstewart555@gmail.com). Scott is researching information on Laura Margaret (Westfall) Fox, who might have been involved in breaking up stills in the 1920s thru the 1930s during Prohibition. Can anyone out there help Scott verify that this family story is fact and not folklore?

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Restoration of the Runnymede Hotel

Ken Brown reminds us and Eric from last weeks newsletter, "Eric, I''m part of the group which has overseen the restoration of the old Runnymede Hotel here in Alva, OK [more]... View/Write Comments (count 1)   |   Receive updates (1 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Hurt Family From Bohemia

Ed Hurt (email: soonered3@yahoo.com) asks, "I am quite certain there is no connection to my family and yours, but here is the only information I have. I thought I'd at least give it a shot!

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Dear Sinterklaas, St. Nicholas (Santa Claus)

Dear St. Nick (a.k.a. St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Santa Claus),

I do not ask much for myself because I am only a lowly pug and do not need much to get by in this life. I am blessed, though, with a human who treats and showers me as though I were human. BUT ... I would like to ask some special things for those who can not help themselves. If you do not mind listening to me.

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Autobiography: Laura Margaret (Westfall) Fox

The following autobiography was written by Laura Margaret Westfall Fox and sent to the OkieLegacy by Scott Stewart (email: scottstewart555@gmail.com). The autobiography begins below: [more]... View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (1 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

8th Iowa Cavlary & Alfalfa County, OK

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Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

For all those children out there still wondering with doubt - Here is a news clipping of Virginia's letter to the editor and the Editor's replyl appearing in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States.

In 1897, Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, an assistant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia (1889-1971), whether Santa Claus really existed. Virginia O'Hanlon had begun to doubt there was a Santa Claus, because her friends had told her that he did not exist.

Dr. O'Hanlon suggested she write to the New York Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." While he may have been passing the buck, he unwittingly gave one of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, an opportunity to rise above the simple question, and address the philosophical issues behind it.

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The Knickerbocker History

This is about Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History (1809) and a Christmas poem published in 1821 called The Children's Friend.

When the Dutch established their colony of New Amsterdam in America in the seventeenth century, they brought with them the traditional "visit" from Sinter Klaas (St. Nicholas) on the eve of December 5. Weiser thinks that when the English later took over the colony and renamed it New York, the English children began longing to have a kindly "Sinter Klaas" of their own that would bring them gifts. But because the English Protestants did not observe saints days, the Sinter Klaas visit was moved to Christmas Eve and observed then.

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Duchess Snowy Domain