When Jeff Guinn was a journalist with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, he published a piece about Santa Claus only to have a reader come by his office a few days later to “clarify some details.”

This mystery man then whisked Guinn off to a faraway place where he got the complete story from the big guy himself. There he learns that Santa got his start as Nicholas, the real-life Bishop of Myra. Born in 280 A.D. to wealthy parents who died when he was young, he inherited a sizeable estate, and being a socially conscious young man, he was forever trying to do the right thing.

Whenever he heard about children in need, he would sneak into their houses at night and leave coins in their stockings. Eventually, these nocturnal escapades became a full-time job.

At his death in 343 A.D., St. Nicholas was granted eternal life by a spirit who approved of his mission, and he was to remain 63 forever.

Over the centuries, in spite of poverty, wars, unfriendly governments, embarrassing accidents teaching the reindeer to fly, and, worst of all, “people who do not believe,” Santa became the first global enterprise by enlisting the aid of an unlikely crew of helpers, including Attila the Hun, King Arthur of the Round Table, Charlemagne, Francis of Assisi, Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther, and, of course, Clement Clarke Moore and Charles Dickens. In this marvelous blend of history and fantasy, we accompany Santa as he brings hope and joy to children first in Europe, and then America, and then the entire world.