A Visit from St. Nicholas

A personagem do Pai Natal baseia-se em S. Nicolau, mas a ideia do velhinho de barba branca que conduz um trenó puxado por renas foi introduzida por Clement Clark More, num poema intitulado de "A Visit from St. Nicholas" mas que se tornou mais conhecido por "An account of a visit from Saint Nicolas":

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf. . . .

O primeiro desenho com uma figura do Pai Natal, foi elaborado por Thomas Nast e publicado no semanário “Harper’s Weekly” no ano de 1866.