'Autobiography of Santa Claus' begs readers to believe

by Beka Rutledge, entertainment editor

For as long as the story of the holiday gift-giver has been around, generations of children, and adults too, have wondered if Santa Claus is real.

Author Jeff Guinn believes he has proven that Father Christmas really does exist. Guinn is an award-winning journalist and editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He also has written six other books.

After being contacted by Santa’s right hand “elf” and sworn to secrecy, he is whisked off to the North Pole. Once there he is introduced to Jolly Ole’ Saint Nick himself. He then had the chance to sit down with Santa and hear the history behind his gift-giving. The result is “The Autobiography of Santa Claus.”

Santa started out as Nicholas. He was born in the country of Lycia, which is the area known as Turkey now, in the year 280 A.D. He was born to parents who were already very old for the times, and they both passed away the year he was nine.

They were Christian people, who left him in the care of the five local priests. Nicholas said that one thing that always made sense to him, even as a child, was Jesus’ golden rule, “Treat others as you would like to have them treat you.”

Eventually, as he got older, he came up with the idea of giving secret gifts to the town’s people who were in need. He decided that the dead of the night was the best time for his gift-giving.

Nicholas’ early tries at gift-giving are hilarious. He almost gets caught a time or two, but he eventually gets the hang of stealth. However, everyone in town realizes what is going on, and he has to stop his giving for a time because greedy people would sit up to try to get something from him.

He decides he needs to start traveling to neighboring towns in order to give the town time to settle down, and to spread his generosity. After he got older, Nicholas became a bishop, and it sometimes interfered with his gift-giving. But he found that even when he failed, other kind hearts were still giving gifts in his place.

As Nicholas aged, he still tried to get around and do his gift-giving. One day, he decided he would just leave during the night, and he did. Later, he would find out that he had been considered to have died, and he was sainted. He ironically was connected to the gift-giving, even though it hadn’t stopped after his “death.”

The story goes on, and Nicholas finds that he does not age any longer. He also can travel at abnormally fast speeds. He eventually meets up with a young man named Felix when the young man tries to rob him half-heartedly.

Of course, Felix becomes Nicholas’ first helper, and he attains the same magical traits as Nicholas. As they give gifts to others at night together, the story is told of how they meet the future Mrs. Clause, or Layla, as she is called in this book.

After they become a group of three, it is not long before the group grows. There are so many historical figures who have been Santa’s helpers, such as Attila the Hun, King Arthur, Leonardo da Vinci, among others.

Da Vinci is actually credited with making reindeer fly. Sorry, there is no Rudolph mentioned. So, of course, the group has grown even more, and they move to the North Pole for secrecy. They develop a couple of toy factories, where Willie Skokan is the mastermind behind many of them.

As the story unfolds, many of the Christmas traditions around the world are explained, and Santa describes many of his nicknames. He meets others in history who do not join his group, such as Presidents George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt.

At the very end of the book, a few of Santa’s favorite recipes are included so readers will know what to leave for him in the following holidays to come.

This book, and the way Santa and Guinn tell it, just begs readers to believe. It is a great holiday story to read to children, but it also speaks to adults. Each chapter will keep you hooked. There are 24 of them, one for each day before Christmas.

Every December since I have received this book, I have read it. And every year, I adore it more and more. It really brings the joy and wonder of the holiday season into my heart. I recommend it to everyone, young and old. I also give it five out of five jingle bells.

Before the Christmas season is upon us, go pick up “The Autobiography of Santa Claus.” Then, when it is here, you can curl up in your favorite pajamas and a cup of hot cocoa and read the story behind everyone’s favorite gift-giver and…believe.