Ideas About Christmas

I have been pondering the idea of Christmas.  How to explain the ideas behind it to the kids? what traditions to bring in? Who is santa? Who is St Nicolas? Why do we have christmas? What do I hope my children think we are celebrating?

I've been looking into loads of different websites and talking to other parents trying to answer these questions.

I loved this site on St Nicolas;
http://www.stnicholascenter.org

We have a few different books on Christmas, one that talks about the christian version of the christmas story, one that talks about the standard santa christmas story and one that is the australian version of the santa story.  None of them really summed up how I felt about christmas and so the search continues.

So I'd love to hear about your family traditions or the christmas stories you tell your children or grew up with, what are the best bits for you? I'd love to pinch them :)