St. Nicholas Sketch written for a Christmas Eve Crib Service for younger children

Ho, Ho, Ho,

Hello boys and girls.

Do you like my new figure? I've been going to slimming sessions at the Church hall on Monday nights

Even though I am slimmer, do you know who I am?

Lots of people know me as that, but does anyone know my real name?

My real name is Nicholas.

Is there anyone called Nicholas here?

Perhaps it is rather an old fashioned name. After all I am about 1730 years old.

Does anyone know where I come from?

I was actually born in a place called Turkey.  I know that lots of people think about Turkey this time of year.

Now, you may be wondering why I am here.  Well, this year I have done things differently. I've got a computer and done all of my shopping at Amazon.  It's saved me a lot of time and money.

However, it has upset the elves.  With the time and money we have saved we have had to introduce new working practices and they don't like it.  Some of them have even threatened to go on strike.

But don't worry, you will get your presents as usual.  I know how important it is to give gifts.

I became famous because of the gifts I used to give a long time ago. My parents were very rich, but they both died when I was young.  My parents followed Jesus and I do, too.  Jesus said that we should help poor people.

One poor man had three daughters and they couldn't get married. It wasn't that any of them were mingers, but in those days women had to have a dowry, which is money to give to the married couple. The family were too poor for that, so I secretly gave each girl some gold for a dowry so they could be married. I used to creep up to the house during the night and stealthily leave a bag of gold. One time the father saw me.  I told him to keep quiet about it but word got around and I because known as a gift giver.

But, of course, the greatest gift ever given is Jesus.  God loves you and me so much that he became a baby and Bethlehem.  He showed us what God is like and what we should be like.  He loved us so much that he took our punishment on the cross so that we can be free to be friends with God forever.

So, boys and girls, I want you to remember that the greatest gift you can receive is Jesus.  All other gifts will fade away, but he will last forever.

Well it's lovely to talk to you all. Have a wonderful Christmas. I'm just off to take my travel sickness pills. Riding with the reindeers over the clouds can be very bumpy.

Goodbye everybody. Sleep well tonight. Don't get up too early in the morning...

Ho, ho, ho.

Follow this with "Christmas song for all year round" video by Randy Stonehill, see Youtube.