There is an actual historical explanation for the optimism and unprecedented joy Americans feel at Christmas time. And it's not simply because we sing wonderful old songs and eat rich (i.e. fattening) foods in large quanitities. It's a fact that the things we talk about and sing about in December are rooted in wonderful truths of history.
No, Saint Nicholas does not really wear a red suit and leap down chimneys, but he is based on a real figure. Nicholas of Myra lived about 1000 years after Christ. Born into wealth, he lost both of his parents as a young man. But as he became an adult, he took the Christian truths he'd been taught by his parents seriously. He literally gave away his inherited fortune to needy people and desperate souls throughout the land where he lived. (It would correspond to the nation of Turkey today.) Nicholas became so beloved due to his sacrificial generosity that he was ultimately appointed as Bishop of Myra. Eventually he was persecuted for his faith, locked away in prison, beaten and finally released. He died of complications shortly after leaving prison.
Saint Nicholas is not a legend. Neither is Good King Wenceslas. Remember that old carol that you never understood as a child? When he went out one snowy night during the Feast of Stephen, he was celebrating the second day of Christmas just about 900 years after Christ. Wenceslas was the Duke of Bohemia in a region which today corresponds to Czechoslavakia. Like Nicholas, his faith in Christ had given him a heart for the poor. He literally became one of the most beloved royal figures in history due to his generous heart and his ongoing concern for the needy people of his land.
The old carol actually narrates the story of a bitterly cold evening when Wenceslas and a helper went out into the streets to care for a desperate old man. The night was so cold and the snow was so deep that the young aid was unable to continue. But when he placed his feet in the footsteps Wenceslas had left in the snow, the footprints literally warmed him and enabled him to keep walking.
The particular incident is probably just a legend. But there's a reason young Wenceslas became so beloved that legends could be fabricated: because he did amazing things for people who could never repay him.
These amazing figures of history were not just nice guys: they were followers of Christ. And in their desire to love God with all their hearts, they always recalled Christ's observation: "When you do deeds of kindness for the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me."
May we all love Christ with that sort of intensity this Christmas.
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