Christmas Unwrapped: A Kid's Winter Wonderland of Holiday Trivia

Christmas Unwrapped: A Kid's Winter Wonderland of Holiday Trivia — page 7
Why does our Santa look like he does I t’s because of a poem and a picture We didn’t used to have an American version of Santa A Visit from St Nicholas written in 1823 changed all that The poem captured people’s imaginations The poet Clement Clarke Moore names St Nicholas in the poem but his description is of a jolly old man that we all now think of as Santa His eyes how they twinkled his dimples how merry His cheeks were like roses his nose like a cherry His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow And the things this bearded old man in red did Jumping down chimneys Riding a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer Bringing us presents This was a Santa we could all love Luckily the poem inspired Thomas Nast Mr Nast was a cartoonist In 1881 he drew a picture of Santa Claus see right that looks old-fashioned to us now but is the great-great-grandpa of our Santa today 8