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THE CURIOUS SIGN OF THE MANGER
Review copy only—not for distribution.
For all of these nightmares I blame the character and concept of Santa Claus. Here is a legend
about a person who visits your home and delivers
you gifts based upon the general positiveness
of your behaviour. Originally, this tradition was
based on the legend of St Nicholas, a Christian
bishop in Turkey who made a life out of helping the poor and needy. As a small boy my
positive impression of Santa Claus lasted until I
was about three years old, which was roughly the
time my older brothers and sister got sick of pretending there was a special secret man visiting
the house in December. Now, for me at the age of
three, that was a problem. Little did I know that
there was a bigger problem I was soon going to
have to deal with.
His name was Jesus.
The older I got, the more I began to understand the Bible stories that I was being taught
Sunday by Sunday in the church our family went
to. Consequently, the older I got, the more I began
to grumble when December looked like coming
around again. Why? Because I was beginning
to learn, in no uncertain terms, that Christmas
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