TRIVIA

Contrary to popular myth, the origins of Santa Claus go back to not the frozen north but the warm, sunny Mediterranean. In this case, what is now Turkey.
Known to begin with as St. Nicholas, he was born in 270 AD and in his lifetime, he became a Greek Orthodox bishop who promoted Christianity by giving gifts. He also became the Patron Saint of Children after saving three boys from being slaughtered during a famine, and also three girls from working in a brothel. The father of these girls was a poor man and in the middle of the night, St. Nicholas would put bags of gold into their house, either by throwing them through an open window or dropping them down the chimney.
The name 'Santa Claus' as we recognise it today comes from 'Sinterklaas', the Dutch nickname for St. Nicholas but the modern image of Santa was yet to come.
In 1822, Clement Clark Moore, a New York Professor of Greek and Oriental Literature instigated the legend of flying reindeer pulling a sleigh by writing his famous poem, 'The Night Before Christmas'. He introduced eight of these creatures, each with its own name. Rudolph was unheard of until over 100 years later, in 1939. But that's another story.
In 1867, another New Yorker, this time a German-born cartoonist by the name of Thomas Nast generated the image of Santa everyone recognises today thus turning him from a jolly dimpled elf (as depicted by C. C. Moore) into a tall, grand rotund gentleman.