Today Is...St. Nicholas Day

Apparently St Nicholas, or Nicholas as he was known back then, was a bit of a shy, self-effacing fellow who climbed on roofs and threw coins down the chimney which landed in socks but all the time trying to stay anonymous so 16 centuries on, i guess he would be quite annoyed to find out that not only his acts of philanthropy are still celebrated, but he has overtaken his boss as the person most associated with Christmas.
Far from slipping away quietly into the shadows of history, a poll reveals that of 1,200 8-16-year-olds questioned by MediaCom TMB, 67% said they associate this time of year with the modern version of St Nick, Santa Claus, while only 8% link Christmas with Christ himself.
Church leaders have long tried to get the attention back on the baby in the barn and away from the chubby OAP and St Nicholas did inspire the famous Beach Boys hit where they called him Little Saint Nick and according to experts they got that right as he was only a tiddly 5ft tall.
Not only is he the patron saint of sex workers but according to a reliable source, the St Nicholas Centre, he was able to stand unaided at one week old and refused to breastfeed on the holy fasting days of Friday and Wednesday.
In 325AD he settled an argument with a Bishop about Jesus being as holy as God by punching him in the face for which Nick was thrown into jail where Mary appeared to him and gave him a Bible.
He also brought back to life three children who had been hacked to death seven years previously and when he died he was buried in Turkey until 1087 when a group of Italians decided his remains would be much better served in Christian Italy so broke into his tomb and dragged what was left of him back to Bari where he (well, a few bits of bone) remain today.
As his bones are said to leak a sweet smelling liquid, this is mixed with holy water and sold for £160 for a 2 ltr bottle so you too can feel close to the man who broke a holy man's nose in the name of peace and goodwill.
I wonder if St Nicholas knew the train of events his actions would set in motion all those years ago, he would have kept his coins in his pocket but then the Church can't really complain too much because worshiping a Saint is about as close as most people come to religion these days, even if they don't know it.