" I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

The first drawing done of Santa Claus appeared on the cover of the January 1, 1863 edition of Harper's Weekly. Santa was shown wearing a coat of stars on a blue field and his paints with red and white stripes handing presents out to Union soldiers. It was done by Thomas Nast who would also later give us the symbols of the donkey and the elephant for the Democrat and Republican parties. In 1866 Nast would draw Santa in his traditional red and white garb so that no nation could claim him as their own.