Saint Nicholas Day

Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on Saint Nicholas…

In late medieval England, on Saint Nicholas' Day parishes held Yuletide "boy bishop" celebrations. As part of this celebration, youths performed the functions of priests and bishops, and exercised rule over their elders. Today, Saint Nicholas is still celebrated as a great gift-giver in several Western European countries. According to one source, medieval nuns used the night of December 6th to anonymously deposit baskets of food and clothes at the doorsteps of the needy. According to another source, on December 6th every sailor or ex-sailor of the Low Countries (which at that time was virtually all of the male population) would descend to the harbour towns to participate in a church celebration for their patron saint. On the way back they would stop at one of the various Nicholas fairs to buy some hard-to-come-by goods, gifts for their loved ones and invariably some little presents for their children. While the real gifts would only be presented at Christmas, the little presents for the children were given right away, courtesy of Saint Nicholas. This and his miracle of him resurrecting the three butchered children, made Saint Nicholas a patron saint of children and later students as well.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas – Chet Atkins
A master guitarist at his cool, relaxing best. Listen to that fingerpicking.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas – Roy Drusky
Christmas Eve is coming soon, now you dear old man...

Santa’s Beard – The Beach Boys
He’s just helping Santa Claus.

Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys
This one’s for Brendan—yeah, he has it already, and we’ve posted it already too, but really, do you ever tire of this song?