This is the 6th story in our Dear Santa: Real Questions, Real Answers series where the questions are real, and so are the answers.

“If Saint Nicholas died and he was Santa, who are you?”

Saint Nicholas did die a very long time ago. We should always tell the truth about that.

But Nicholas left something behind that could not be buried.

He left unfinished work.

There were still children who needed protecting, families who felt forgotten, and people who needed to discover that giving could be done quietly, without applause.

So his goodness began looking for new hands.

Through the years, it found people willing to listen, serve, and give without making themselves the center of the gift. Each was trusted to carry a small part of Nicholas’s work forward.

That calling eventually found me.

I did not replace Saint Nicholas. No one could.

I was simply asked to pick up a little of the work he had set down. to wear the red coat faithfully, protect the wonder he began, and leave the world a little kinder than I found it.

And one day, someone else will carry the work after me.

Perhaps that is how the very best people remain with us. Their bodies finish their journey, but the goodness they began keeps looking for someone willing to carry it on.

So, who am I?

I am one of the hands Saint Nicholas’s unfinished kindnesses found along the way.