Saint Nicholas Puppet Script
by Bob Karel, Orchard Hill Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Characters
St. Nicholas
Poor Father
Poor Daughter
St Nicholas Enters: Geiá sou! ("Hello" in Greek)
HOST: Wait a minute . . . are you who I think you are?
ST. NICHOLAS: Yes indeed! I am St. Nicholas. I am from Lycia in Asia Minor, a land you now call Turkey, and I greet you—Geiá sou!
HOST: I thought St. Nicholas greeted us with Ho! Ho! Ho!?
ST. NICHOLAS: No! No! No! That would be Santa Claus—my distant descendant. Geiá sou means "hello" in Greek.
HOST: Well, we say Geiá sou to you. (Have audience join) St. Nicholas didn't you live a long time ago?
ST. NICHOLAS: Yes, I did. It was a LONG time ago. 1800 years ago, to be precise. And I was fortunate enough to have very wealthy parents who were followers of a very new religion of people who tried to follow the words of Christ.
HOST: What most people don't know is that because of your love for following Jesus, that is how our tradition of gift giving started.
ST. NICHOLAS: Yes, in my town there was a very poor man who had three daughters.
POOR FATHER: (Appears on upper stage) I am so poor. I have no idea where our next meal will come from or how I can keep a roof over our head. Whatever will I do?
ST. NICHOLAS: The father made a bad decision:
POOR FATHER: I guess I will have to sell my daughters so that I will have enough money to live on.
HOST: Wait, he can't do that! You can't sell your children as slaves, that is wrong and not allowed.
ST. NICHOLAS: That is true today. But 1800 years ago, it was a different time and they had different ways. He knew selling his daughter was wicked, but it was all he could think to do.
POOR FATHER: I have no other choice. In the morning it will be done.
HOST: That makes me sad.
ST. NICHOLAS: It made me sad as well. I knew I had to do something.
HOST: What did you do?
ST. NICHOLAS: I hit upon a plan. The night before the poor man was going to sell his daughter, the family went off to bed as usual, except of course much sadder. But I didn't go to bed. I waited in my house until the middle of the night, when everyone in the town was asleep and no one would see me. Then I made my way quietly to the poor family's house, and crept up to the window, keeping out of sight. When I was sure no one was nearby, I quickly stood up and tossed into the window enough gold coins for the family to get by—and then hurried back to my own house before anyone saw me.
HOST: I bet they were excited when they saw the gold coins.
ST. NICHOLAS: Not right away, because the coins were hard to find.
HOST: But you said, you just threw them through the window.
ST. NICHOLAS: I did. But, you see it had been raining and the family had put their shoes and stockings near the fireplace to dry. Since I don't have a very good aim . . . well, some of the coins fell in the shoes and others ended up in the stockings hung at the fire mantel. So, they didn't find the coins until they put on their shoes and stockings the next day.
HOST: I bet they were surprised.
POOR DAUGHTER (Appears on Upper Stage): There is money in my stocking and shoes! Look at all these gold coins. This is amazing! We can buy more food. We can keep a roof over our heads. I can get a good education. Maybe I'll start my own business. This is amazing! Who could have done this?
POOR FATHER: This gift of gold must have come straight from God. It is no mystery that God came to our house tonight. (He happily laughs) I don't have to sell my daughters. God is so good!
HOST: Did they ever find out it was you?
ST. NICHOLAS: They thought it might be me . . . and as the years went on, stories were told, and soon they were no longer calling me Nick. It became St. Nick. But I never told. That's half the fun of giving—keeping it a secret.
HOST: Well it sure seems you have Jesus' heart for giving to those in need.
ST. NICHOLAS: Yes, there is nothing better. (He laughs with joy) Ho…Ho…Ho!
HOST: I thought you said you didn't say, "ho, ho, ho?"
ST. NICHOLAS: Well, I can't help it when I get the joy from giving to others. May God bless you this Christmas!
(Exits)
HOST: I hope you heard how St Nick took seriously God's word to share what we have with others. One of the things I want you to think about today, as we do some activities remembering St Nick's story, is who will you share with? Later, we are going to make some giving boxes that you can put a treat or present in to give to someone to bless them in the spirit of St. Nicholas.
Puppets are available from Puppets Inc. and Creative Ministry Solutions.
St. Nicholas, a man, and a girl are needed.
To modify a puppet to make St. Nicholas:
1) Add white hair for his beard and moustache;
2) Use a white 2T turtle-neck with fancy gold ribbon hot glued on;
3) A plain red bandana, ribbon, and a fancy button make the cloak;
4) Custom fit the miter out of firm felt and ribbon.
Written by Pastor Bob Karel, Orchard Hill Church (RCA), Grand Rapids, Michigan. Used by permission.