Today we remember St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, 270–343 AD.  He was a man of extraordinary kindness.  Although he has been forgotten by many people, in some parts of the world he is still important.  Today is his day, because it commemorates the day of his death.  The mythical figure of Santa Claus, giver of extraordinary gifts, is based on this real, historically attested person.  Since my children are grown, I don’t do anything special today, except to give thanks to God that this person lived his life and left us a model of kindness and sacrificial giving.  You can learn much more about him by searching the wonderful world of the internet.  I especially liked the site stnicholascenter.org  by Jim Rosenthal.