How are you,

I am starting to get worried about you. You see, these last few years, I have noticed that things have gotten a little bit away from how you originally envisioned Christmas back when we used to call you St. Nicholas.

I remember when your wealthy Christian parents died in that epidemic when you were young. That must have been very sad. But I thought it was so amazing when instead of feeling sorry for yourself, you explained that you were just obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," when you used all of your inheritance to help the poor, the sick, and the suffering. Then you dedicated your life to serving God and was made Bishop of Smyrna. Wow! That was a pretty big accomplishment for such a young person like you. I wish I was that focused or self-less when I was younger and I had my parents. Pretty cool. Folks used to tell stories about how generous you were to people in need.

I remember someone told me a story about the poor man with three daughters. They explained to me that back in the olden days, fathers had to offer potential husbands something of value called a dowry. With a big dowry, a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry and that was not good because then they might be sold as slaves. The poor man had nothing and his daughters were definitely gonna be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. They told me that you threw the bags of gold through an open window, and they landed in stockings left by the fire to dry. Nice Arm. Did you play a little ball as a child? I think it's so cool that that's how we now have the tradition of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, hoping for you to come and fill them up.

How come you never stayed so they could say thank you? Didn't you want the credit for giving them those awesome bags of gold? Nowadays, folk give cards or tags that make sure everyone knows who gets credit for giving a great gift. Were we supposed to do it anonymously and not want anything in return? If so, I think we might have missed the point.

Did you also mean that we should not replace the religious meaning of the holiday with just you? If so, we definitely goofed on that too.

That's one of the reasons I'm writing to you. You see, something happened lately and instead of everybody remembering that this holiday is about giving of ourselves, our time and our material possessions to help those less fortunate than ourselves, everybody's talking about how they hope they get that ring, or a car, or presents for themselves. I thought the whole point was to look outside ourselves, not always focus what we want. Was I wrong?

At least when I was growing up, you remember, I was not always on your nice list, but you never forgot me. It was cool when mom and dad would take me to town hall for the Christmas Tree lighting. There was this great Manger and Nativity scene and we sang religious and non-religious Christmas songs and everybody wished each other well and hugged and stuff.

Did ya hear that now we can't go to the town hall anymore and see the baby Jesus? They say "the statehouse is not for that kind of thing." Can you tell me why? I was trying to figure it out but got confused because our money says "In God We Trust," and when the President gets sworn in, they use a bible. Does that mean that they don't really mean it?

Now they tell me I'm not even allowed to say what a great Christmas Tree it is when they put it up because it's not called that anymore. Now it's a 'Holiday Tree.' They say the atheists wanted it that way because they don't believe in God, but don't worry, they still believe in you...I think. It's funny though..hee hee, seeing as Holiday really means Holy Day...but shhhhh don't tell them...they'll just get upset and say we can't have the tree at all.

Anyway, I was worried about you and wanted to tell you that even if everyone else forgot what you wanted us to remember about this time of year...I didn't. I hope you don't give up on us, because I think if we can just wake up from our nap, stop being mad at each other over things like politics, or race, or sexual preference or worrying that somebody has more things than we do, and we look around at all the people we might be able to help and actually help, things will get better. Promise.

So here's my list:

1. Can I have someone else's shoes, so I can know what it feels like to walk in them?

Your Friend,

Louis