The First Ride: The Real Story of Santa Claus

By Gary Paul Bryant

Forget Kris Kringle, Sinterklaas, and St. Nick-you're about to learn the real story. In the 1870s, on a quiet farm in rural Hopeville, Connecticut, the Clauses arrived to work for Max Pepin. Christmas has never been the same since.

Experience the warm, human heart of Christmas in The First Ride: The Real Story of Santa Claus, a quiet and tender tale rooted in the 19th-century pastoral life of Max Pepin's Connecticut farm. Based on Max's own diary, this story unfolds when a mysterious new farmhand named Nicolas Claus arrives, forever changing the rhythms of farm life: reindeer grazing in snowy fields, unexpected chimney entrances, and the mystery of gifts arriving at dawn.

Told through the eyes of Max's grandson, this book weaves a believable origin story for Santa Claus-one not of magic alone, but of family, generosity, and humble beginnings. Readers come to see Saint Nick as a real person, deeply human, his life rooted in work, care, and community. This is a story that gently lifts the familiar Santa myth out of the realm of fantasy and gives it grounding in history, while still honoring the wonder that makes Christmas memorable.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1723916196
• ISBN13: 9781723916199
• Release Date: October 2018
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 38 Pages
• Weight: 0.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 5.0" x 8.0"