Killing Santa: At war with Father Christmas. Why Santa Claus does not find his way to us.

When our son was three or four years old, the question arose for the first time what the difference was between Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus, and we as parents just smiled at it because we couldn't explain it ourselves. We should have taken the time to explain the two figures to him in a plausible way, then things would have gone better in the future because our son is quite an attentive contemporary who questions everything.

At that time, we left it to the kindergarten teachers alone to explain to our children what Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas were all about, without suspecting that they were not always telling the truth. And today I blame myself heavily for having lied to our boy all these years and not telling him the truth about these two characters who only have similarities at first glance.

But I too had grown up with this big lie when I was a child in the 1970s. Back then, the world was still a different place. Back then, great importance was still attached to honouring Saint Nicholas on 6 December for his deeds, which were so far in the past that I'm sure a lot was added, as with so many saints.

And at Christmas, we didn't have Santa Claus, but the Christ Child or at best Father Christmas, who was becoming increasingly popular, not least because more and more films were being produced by Hollywood about the long-bearded, pot-bellied man in the red and white costume.

Also includes the four short stories: The Druid's Wisdom, The Creepy Forest, Ludmilla and Spellbound, and Death by Chocolate