This episode of Christmas Past is the first in a three-part series about Santa Claus.

And even though children love Santa, these episodes are not for them.

Grownups, please enjoy them on your own.

Thanks.

Let's try a little thought experiment.

Imagine a roomful of people. It's a good mix of male and female, young and old, from all over the world and all walks of life. And your job is to give each of them a sheet of paper and a box of crayons. And you're going to ask them to perform one simple task, and that is to draw a picture of Santa Claus.

When everyone's finished and hands you their drawings, how much variation do you think

you'd see?

I don't mean variation in artistic ability.

I mean variation in what people think Santa looks like.

I'd bet good money that almost every picture would depict an old man.

He'd have a white beard, a red fur suit with white trim, a red hat with a pom-pom on the end,

and black boots and a black belt at the waist. In other words, the image of Santa is pretty

universal and standardized. The only things that change are the small details,

like whether he wears glasses or smokes a pipe. He is, without a doubt, one of the most

recognized and recognizable figures in the world. But this universal image of a grandfatherly

gift giver dressed in red and riding a magic sleigh, that's all relatively new. It takes up

only about 10% of the total history of his legend. So how exactly did St. Nicholas become

Santa Claus, or Chris Kringle, and why does he have so many names anyway? Well, that's a story

1700 years in the making, and one that may not be

finished yet. A story I'll tell here in three acts. It's a blurry mixture of fact and legend,

a tale of miracles and murder, of tomb raiders and torture, of the Protestant Reformation,

...