Christmas is a time of laughter and joy. A time where all the malls stay packed and parents are trying to find the perfect presents for their children. While parents are worried about the expense of this holiday, children are counting down the days to their visit from Santa Claus. With Christmas only being a few days away, Father Christmas's annual trip around the globe will be here before we know it. Where did this cookie-loving, rosy-cheeked, generous and jolly guy that we all have come to know and love actually come from? Here are just a few of the things you may not know about Kris Kringle.

In 2015, Santa Claus is celebrating his 1,735th birthday! The original Nicholas was born in 280 A.D. in the small country of Lycia, which is now part of modern-day Turkey. He first became a priest, then a bishop in the early Christian church. The very first paintings of Nicholas show him wearing the robes of a bishop (red and white), which is how he got his suit today.

Nicholas became famous for gift-giving, usually to the poor. In the early fourth century, a legend began to spread about Nicholas coming at night to the home of three poor girls who did not have dowries and, therefore, could not marry their fiancés. While the girls slept, Nicholas left gold coins in their stockings, which were drying by the fire. That’s how our tradition of Santa filling stockings got its start.

How did his home at the North Pole and his little helpers come about you might ask? Well during the Civil War, a magazine artist named Thomas Nast began drawing cartoons of Santa. He did this as a diversion for readers from the horrors of the war. He sketched Santa as living at the North Pole and having a lot of elves as his assistants. Everyone believed that must be true. Many people also believe that Santa’s reindeer were introduced to the holiday in Clement Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which most of us now call “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Behind every good man is a good woman. Mrs. Claus began appearing in Christmas lore in the late 1880's. In 1889, a poet/composer named Katharine Lee Bates wrote a poem called “Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride." Wives in these days were often referred to as “good wives,” or “goody” for short.)

In 1890, department store Santas began appearing all over America. About this same time, Ralph E. Morris of the New England Telephone Company looked at switchboard lights and proposed that strings of them be hung on Christmas trees (they would be safer than candles).

For Santa Claus to be a worldwide figure, his origin is not a story that gets told. Even most adults do not realize how Saint Nick came about. Now that you know where Santa originated from, you can share it with others this Christmas. Take the time to also realize what Christmas is truly about, the birth of Jesus Christ.

Have yourself a Merry Christmas!