Ceremonial speechSPS: To praise Saint Nicholas.CIS: We all know who Santa Claus is and Saint Nicholas, the man responsible for all the wonderful things we know about him such as: selflessness, unparalleled generosity, popularity we can all learn from and apply his wonderful deeds to our own lives.Introduction:I. I know you've all heard of Santa Claus, but how many of you actually know the story behind him? Saint Nicholas was the wonderful man from whom the legend of Santa Claus derives.II. Saint Nicholas is known by many names such as: Kriss Kringle, Santa Claus, Father Christmas and the patron saint of young people to name a few.III. I would dare say that most of you here today don't know the real story behind the legend of Santa Claus, but after today you should understand why Saint Nicholas undeniably deserves praise.IV. We all know who Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas are, the man responsible for all the wonderful things we know him for, such as: unparalleled selflessness, generosity and popularity, we can all learn and apply his wonderful deeds to our own life. {Transition: Now that we know how Saint Nicholas is known, let's look at what made him worthy of praise.}BodyI. Saint Nicholas possessed the most astonishing trait of altruism.A. Saint Nicholas often went out and distributed gifts to people stricken by poverty, especially children.B. Saint Nicholas wore a disguise so that no one would notice him because he did not want to receive credit for his good deeds. {Transition: In addition to his altruism, Saint Nicholas also demonstrated incredible acts of generosity.}II. Saint Nicholas demonstrated true generosity in the story of the nobles and his three daughters.A. The nobles had no money for his daughter's dowry; and in those days a girl without a dowry was unlikely to marry.1. Saint Nicholas decided to remedy this by throwing a bag of gold out the window. (All About Christmas, p. 26)2. Saint Nicholas did this again when the second daughter was to be married. (The Christmas Story, p. 43)B. When the third daughter was to be married, Saint Nicholas had to crawl onto the roof and throw the gold into the chimney. {Transition: Let's now look at the unique popularity of Saint Nicholas.}III. Saint Nicholas has proven to be one of the most popular and influential people of all time. Saint Nicholas was born hundreds and hundreds of years ago but is still popular today..