Why Is Santa Claus Fat? How St. Nick Gained Weight

If it weren’t for Clement Clarke Moore, we might be leaving Santa Claus carrots instead of cookies on Christmas.

Santa Claus wasn’t always fat. In fact, the inspiration for Santa, St. Nicholas, was a thin man. It was Moore, an Episcopal minister famous for the 1822 poem “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” who gave Santa the generous waistline.

Moore wrote the poem, more commonly known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” for his three daughters. He wrote:

“The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.”

It was this description that influenced the political cartoonist, who drew Santa like this:

These works are what made Santa the jolly, fat figure that we know today.