Editorial

“You’re Not Santa Claus!”

RiChaRD h. DaFFneR, mD, FaCR

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus 1”

Last year, I published a Christmas fantasy in the December issue of the Bulletin, entitled “Letters to Santa 2”. This holiday season, let me tell \you of an encounter with a real live Santa Claus.

I was interpreting bone x-rays and CT scans in our reading room at Allegheny General Hospital one hot, steamy August day, several years ago before I retired. I was asked to do a “wet” read on the hand of an eight-year-old boy, who had fallen from his bicycle and complained of pain in his left thumb. The bones of children are not completely fused, and there are many epiphyses (growth centers) in the hands (and feet). Some radiology departments, including those in children’s hospitals, routinely obtain comparison views on all bone radiographs of their patients. As an experienced MSK radiologist, I don’t advocate routine comparisons, trusting my skills to determine whether an abnormality is present. Furthermore, to reduce the radiation exposure a child receives, I occasionally obtained selective comparison view(s) whenever I was in doubt. More commonly, when I knew the patient was still in the radiology department or the ED, I would do something most radiologists wouldn’t do. I would physically examine the patient. And so it was that I was concerned with the epiphysis at the base of the first metacarpal on the eight-year-old’s hand. I called the technologist and asked her to bring the boy back for me to examine his hand. Jody, the tech, brought the boy and his mother back to the reading room for me to examine his hand.

“You’re not Santa Clause!” the lad exclaimed as soon as he saw me.

I looked at Jody and saw a wide grin on her face. She had told the boy they were going to meet Santa Clause.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Where’s your red suit?”

“Well,” I replied, “It’s summertime. It’s too hot for my red suit.”

“And your beard is too short,” he added.

“Well, I trim my beard in the summer, so my face doesn’t get too hot. I’ll let it grow longer in time for my Christmas Eve visits.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Now, if you’re a good boy, I’ll visit your house on Christmas Eve and bring you gifts. But if you’re naughty, I’ll still visit, but I’ll leave you a rock.”

“Oh, I’ll be good, Santa. I’ll be good!”

“I’m sure you will be,” I said.

All the while, during our conversation I was palpating his thumb and at the same time looking at his face to see if he winced as I pressed on the area of concern. By engaging him in conversation, he was not aware I was pressing on his injured hand. He had no tenderness, and I concluded his hand was normal. Before he left, I told his mother nothing was broken, for which she thanked me. I did not need to get any comparison views.

As they were leaving the reading room, the boy turned around and said, “OK, Santa, let me hear you say it.”

I looked at him, smiled, and in my deepest voice, I said “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

So, why did my technologist tell the boy they were going to see Santa Claus? Well, at that time, I was about twenty pounds heavier, and like the prototypical Santa Claus, I had a protuberant belly (which did not shake like a bowl of jelly, as per Clement Moore’s poem3). Although I was asked many times if I had ever considered playing Santa, I never did. However, I do recite Moore’s poem (complete with nightshirt and cap) during Christmas concerts my band performs at retirement homes.

Where did Santa Claus come from? Historians agree Santa is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring

gifts of toys and candy on Christmas Eve to well-behaved children and either coal or nothing to naughty children. Santa is also known as also known as Saint Nicholas, Jolly Old Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or Sinterklaas in different parts of the world. The original Saint Nicholas (270–343) was a 4th century bishop of Myra (now Demre, on the Anatolian coast of south central Turkey). Nicholas was known for generously giving gifts to the poor, particularly children. He is also the Patron Saint of children. He is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes, a far cry from the popular images of him.

Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Father Christmas dates back to the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food, wine, and revelry.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, Santa is known as Sinterklaas, reflecting his religious origin (St. Nicholas). He is depicted as an elderly, stately and serious man with white hair and a long, full beard. He wears a long red cape over a traditional white bishop’s alb and a sometimes-red stole, a red bishop’s miter and ruby ring. In Germany, he’s known as Kris Kringle, (from Kristkindl – Christ Child) a personification of the baby Jesus who takes the place of Santa Claus in bringing gifts to people on Christmas.

The popular images of Santa derive from Clement Moore’s poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas 3” (also known as “The Night Before Christmas”) published anonymously in 1823 in my hometown of Troy, NY. Moore’s poem inspired political cartoonist Thomas Nast to portray Santa, as we now envision him (a jolly fat man in a red suit trimmed with white fur), in an illustration for the January 3,1863, issue of Harper’s Weekly (fig 1). The popular embellishment of the Santa story includes the sleigh, the eight reindeer by name (long before Rudolph became the ninth), the workshop at the North Pole, and the elves, who make the toys.

Figure 1. Thomas Nast’s portrayal of Santa Claus for Harper’s Weekly

The modern depictions of Santa derive from the artwork of Haddon Sundblom (1899–1976) who drew him for The Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising beginning in 1931 and continuing over the next thirty years. Sundblom’s Santa firmly established the larger-than-life, grandfatherly figure as a key icon in American Christmas imagery (fig. 2). Figure 2. Haddon Sundblom’s portrayal of Santa Claus for Coca Cola

Santa’s popularity in the United Stated led to the forming of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas (FORBS) in 1995. This is a professional fraternity for American men who perform as Santa Claus. FORBS members must grow and maintain their own facial hair and agree to promote a positive image of Santa (unlike the drunken Santa in the popular 1983 classic holiday movie “A Christmas Story”). His popularity also resulted in many holiday-themed movies, television specials, and songs.

“Miracle on 34th Street” (1947) was the first movie featuring Kris Kringle, as a man who is hired to play Santa at Macys department store. It turns out he really was Santa. The movie was remade in 1994. Santa makes cameo appearances in “A Christmas Story” (1983), “The Santa Clause” (1994), about a man who accidently causes Santa to fall from his roof and die and then must take his place, “Bad Santa” (2003), about two professional thieves who pose as Santa and his helper at a shopping mall with the intention of robbing it at night, and Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993), about a plot by Halloween ghouls who abduct Santa and take over Christmas. And, on the dark, but delightful side, is the one-act play by

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From Page 13 Carl L. Williams, “The Man Who Shot Santa Claus” (2008), wherein Santa is portrayed as a chronic trespasser and predatory home invader, whose reindeer damage rooftops, as well as an enslaver of elves, who leaves cheap wooden toys and stale hard candy, all the while getting credit for the gifts that parents and relatives buy for the children.

Popular songs include “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” (1934), “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” (1949), both of which became holiday TV specials, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (1952), and one of my favorites, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” (1979).

Is there a Santa Claus? Eight-yearold Virginia O’Hanlon wrote the Editor of the New York Sun in 1897:

“Dear Editor, I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”

Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?”

Figure 3. Virginia O’Hanlon and Francis P. Church

Sun editorial writer Francis P. Church responded, “… Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished …1”

So, do you believe in Santa Claus? Most children do. Most adults? Well, I know some believe in him. I certainly do. May your Holiday Season, however you celebrate it, be merry.

References:

1. Church FP. New York Sun, Sept 21, 1897. 2. Daffner RH. Letters to Santa. ACMS

Bulletin, Dec 2021, pp 348 – 352. 3. Moore CC. A Visit From St. Nicholas,

The Sentinel, Troy, NY 23 Dec 1823.

Dr.Daffner is a retired radiologist, who practiced at Allegheny General Hospital for over 30 years. He is Emeritus Clinical Professor of Radiology at Temple University School of Medicine and is the author of 9 textbooks. He is also an amateur historian.

The opinion expressed in this column is that of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, the Bulletin, or the Allegheny County Medical Society.

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