Ace Collins

If there weren't stockings there, he left coins in shoes.

He had such a dramatic impact on children that they started celebrating St.

Nicholas Day not long after he died, and that was 1,700 years ago.

Before that, Santa Claus was pretty much pictured as being more of a tall, thin man and kind of maroon or earthen tones.

That's how Nast drew him in Harper's Bazaar and other magazines back in the 1800s.

So Sunbloom definitely created the Santa Claus that we celebrate and see everywhere today.

And that was done within the last hundred years.

It's funny.

It was an adult story when it began and failed miserably and then was passed along through several different classical composers' hands until one person realized, hey, we can save this thing if we turn it into a children's story.

And it was performed and became this wonderful piece of childhood magic.

took root in Russia and probably took off because it was brought to the United States right after World War II when the Russian ballet came over here and performed it.

And then it took off here and in England because of that tour.

Before that, it was just kind of an Eastern European celebration.

But once again, I think it took off because it's so fascinating to children.

You know, when you look at traditions and you look at songs, there's obviously been thousands of both.

Why do certain things take off and certain things don't?

I think in the United States when it came to the Nutcracker in England, it just happened to be introduced on a large scale after World War II and people were looking for ways to celebrate and feel good.

Just like the three songs of World War II, White Christmas, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

We still embrace those today, but I think we embrace them probably because they were released during World War II when the words and the message found in those songs were

was much more meaningful when families were separated in a conflict that involved people who may or may not come home, a life or death conflict.