What a stroke of luck to have our PSR classes on the Feast day for Saint Nicholas! This mini-lesson is a no-brainer! :-) Of course, I will repeat the lesson on Sunday, the 3rd week of Advent, but the kids won't mind ... who wouldn't love a lesson about the real Santa Claus?
Obviously, with elementary children, teaching about St. Nicholas is a very tricky prospect. I know that as a Mom I would be furious if my children were led to believe that Santa isn't "real" before it was time, so my main goal was to be extremely careful in this lesson's wording. No saying that Nicholas "used to live" or "died", etc. Not with young children. So what I did was tell them that I would be sharing with them the TRUE story of how St. Nicholas got his start, and that how he went from that beginning to the magical man that he is now, I'm just not sure -- we just don't always know how magic works. ;-)
Opening Song: Lord, I Lift Your Name on High (focusing on the lines: "You came from Heaven to Earth", which is what we celebrate at Christmas)
The lesson went as follows: Boys and girls, today, Dec. 6th, is a REALLY special day for our church. You know that in our Catholic church we celebrate special feast days for Saints? Many, many calendar dates are special because they honor certain Saints. And today is one of those dates, honoring a saint that I *bet* you all know... would anybody like to guess what Saint we are honoring today?! (Take guesses; in my parish they got it right on the first guess!) RIGHT! It is the feast day for Saint Nicholas!! Who has ever heard of him? Ahh, yes... and some of you probably call him by another name - what is that? Yes! Santa Claus! Well, today I want to tell you a story about Saint Nicholas. I have here a book called "The Autobiography of Santa Claus." Do any of you know what an autobiography is? (Generally, 3rd - 5th graders probably know. Allow one to tell you). Right! And this book is Santa telling all about his life. It's a big book with lots of words, really for grown-ups, and I have really loved reading it! But there is a part of this book that can also be found in many other resources about Saint Nicholas, and it tells the story of how he got started with his giving habits. Would you like to hear this real story? OK, then, here goes!
(The following story comes from the web site http://www.stnicholascenter.org/. I am copying it for you exactly as they have it there, but I added lots of details as taken from the book "The Autobiography of Santa Claus" by Jeff Guinn. It's a great book! You will want to tell this story with clarification and embellsihments too, but keep it 'real'. )
The real Santa lived a long time ago in a place called Asia Minor. It is now the country of Turkey. His name was Nicholas.
Nicholas' parents died when he was just a teenager. His parents left him a lot of money which made him a rich young man. He went to live with his uncle who was a priest.
Nicholas heard about a man who had lost all his money. He had three daughters who were old enough to get married. But in those days young women had to have money in order to get married. This moeny was a "dowry" and it was used to help the new family get started. If you didn't have dowry money, you didn't get married.
This family was so poor they had nothing left to eat. The daughters were going to be sold as slaves because they couldn't live at home any longer. They were very sad. They wouldn't be able to have families of their own. And they would have to be slaves - no longer able to decide where they would live or what they would do.
The night before the oldest daughter was to be sold, she washed her stockings and put them in front of the fire to dry. Then all of them went to sleep - the father and the three daughters.
In the morning the daughter saw a lump in her stocking. Reaching in, she found a small, heavy bag. It had gold inside! Enough to provide food for the family and money for her dowry. Oh, how happy they were!
The next morning, another bag with gold was found. Imagine! Two of the daughters would now be saved. Such joy!
And the next night, the father planned to stay awake to find out who was helping his daughters. He dozed off, but heard a small "clink" as another bag landed in the room. Quickly he jumped up and ran out the door. Who did he catch ducking around the corner?
Nicholas, the young man who lived with his uncle. "Nicholas, it is you! Thank you for helping us -- I hardly know what to say!" Nicholas said, "Please, do not thank me - thank God that your prayers have been answered. Do not tell others about me."
Nicholas continued helping people. He always tried to help secretly. He didn't want any attention or thanks. Years passed and he was chosen to be a bishop. Bishops look after their people as shepherds look after their sheep. And that is what Nicholas did. When there wasn't any food, he found wheat, so no one went hungry. He always helped people in troubel. All his life Nicholas showed people how to love and care for each other.
(End of text from http://www.stnicholascenter.org/)
So, boys and girls, Nicholas loved Jesus SO SO much -- that is why he started giving to people! He wanted to help them like Jesus would! Today I have a special present for each of you. (Teachers hand out prayer cards which were counted out prior to class. This is a prayer card from Autom company number MC537. It is an image of the familiar Santa Claus kneeling before the baby Jesus in a manger. ) Have a look at this beautiful picture of Saint Nicholas kneeling before baby Jesus. I want you to keep this card close by during this season to remind you that he would be very, very sad if he thought that all boys and girls were wanting was for Santa Claus to come and that they weren't remembering that it is Baby Jesus's coming that makes Christmas so special and important! You've probably heard the saying, "Keep CHRIST in CHRISTmas... and that's what Saint Nicholas wants us to do, too! Can we keep CHRIST in CHRISTMAS? Yes! VERY GOOD!
This lesson went over very well, and it avoided any question of whether Santa is real now, etc. Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at jtruitt@stolivers.com!
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