Well? What think you?
As this question has a definitive and exhaustive answer, it probably belongs in GQ rather than GD.
What I’d like to know is, is the person (being?) popularly known as Santa Claus (aka. Father Christmas) really the same person known to the Catholic church as Saint Nicholas?
Well that depends doesn’t it? I mean if you mean that the original meaning is the true way or the way that most people believe him today? I heard that one of the possible origins owuld be some sailor or something who came with presents to the children? Also there are many idea where and what the origins come from. But to answer the OP, ehh?
It seems to me that this is a matter of serious debate. Most of my co-workers say that he’s not real. On the other hand, my parents have always assured me that he exists. In addition, there are those nifty Rankin-Bass documentaries that the networks keep showing on TV each year.
Count me as an agnostic. I know that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist, since my parents always forgot to leave me anything under my pillow. (It wasn’t until I complained the next morning that they’d “conveniently” discover some coins that I hadn’t found.) Santa, on the other hand, never once forgot, and so I’m not prepared to discount his existence.
Hoax. Santa is just an excuse for parents to get some peace and quiet around the house. Altough, I don’t think it worked very well for Calvin’s parents. He got into trouble no matter what. Just like the tooth fairy. I believed in that until I found 6 of my teeth in my mom’s jewelary box.
The fat guy from the North Pole with the erythrorhynchic reindeer, elves, and such bears the same relation to the historical Nicholas, Bishop of Myra and patron of the custom of gift-giving at Christmas, as the guy who founded the Round Table and sings about “a law [being] made a distant moon ago here” does to the historical Artorius Riothamus, Warlord of the Britons.
Last year, I was Santa Claus at my local nursery school (3-5 year olds).
I dressed in a red suit and wellington boots. (The full beard and stomach are natural.)
I arrived secretly and hid upstairs. On cue, I rang a bell, thanked my reindeer and clumped downstairs.
The present-giving went very well.
OK, this proves there ain’t no Santa Claus (or Sanity Clause).
No Glee, it just proves that the preschool couldn’t afford the booking fee for the real SC and had to hire a celebrity impersonator.
Of course he’s real.
Those of us who have TV’s see every Christmas Eve that he flies around the world delivering toys to all the kiddies in complete defiance of any radar coverage whatsoever.
And just as clearly, on Christmas morning, those kiddies unwrap said same toys to their utter delight.
I’ve seen it. I believe it.
Rumor has it that Yukon Cornelius is about to release his “tell all” memoirs regarding the Clauses.
Unfortunately, rumor also has it that the Clauses have led a squeaky clean life, so there won’t be anything juicy to read. Still, this should lend credence to the whole “Santa is real” viewpoint.
There’s the scientific answer.
Oh, and here it is with two rebuttals.
Santa Claus is real in the same way Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are real. They may not be physically tangibly real, but they hold value to those who like them.
The guy in the red suit down at the mall is merely an iconic personification, just like the guy in the mouse suit at Disneyland is.
Of course there is a real flesh and blood Santa Clause. The fat guys in the mall are just part of a clever disinformation campaign perpetrated on the people by the military - industrial complex. The real St. Nick is being held at area 51 while the USAF attempts to reverse engineer the hypersonic flying stealth reindeer technology from his sleigh, which was shot down over Nevada in 1954.
I was all set to give convincing arguments (SC doesn’t charge, and neither do the elves…) when I read the end of the post.
I’m a celebrity!
Woo hoo! 
Documentaries :D. I like that. 
At 31 I still get gifts from Santa. So I’m sure he exists and so do my two sons. I’m thinking those who think he’s a hoax are just bitter because they find those lumps of coal (Or reindeer poop) the Jolly ole elf leaves for bad girls and boys. 
I think Santa lost sight of his values way back when he started doing those celebrity endorsement commercials with him riding that Norelco shaver all over the place, so I’m not sure how “real” he is anymore.
I did love those commercials, though.
I’ve noticed that Cecil never posts messages or submits a column on Christmas Eve…