Mrs. Claus: What Do We Know About Santa’s Better Half?

By | December 20, 2022

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Santa and Mrs. Claus (getty images)

Stories of Santa Claus, in his various forms and names, have circulated around the world for centuries, but for most of these years Jolly Ol’ Saint Nick was a bachelor. At least the numerous legends and stories never mentioned his marital status, his dating history, or his significant others. That changed in 1849 when Santa’s little missus first graced the pages of holiday literature. Let’s take a look at how Mrs. Claus was first introduced and what storytellers have told us about Santa’s better half in the years since.

Mrs. Claus and “A Christmas Legend”

The very first literary reference to Santa’s wife appeared in 1849 in a short story called "A Christmas Legend”. The story was written by James Reese, who was a Christian missionary based in Philadelphia. He wrote the short story with a holiday flare to illustrate a biblical lesson about extending hospitality and the central figures are not Santa and his bride. In fact, the Clauses don’t make an appearance at all. As the story goes, an older man and woman, each carrying heavy packs, seek shelter for the night at a home. The family welcomes the strangers in and makes them feel welcome. The next morning, the children wake up to find an abundance of gifts for them. The mysterious older couple are revealed to be the long-lost oldest daughter of the family and her husband who wore disguises because they were not sure if the family would welcome them. How does this introduce Mrs. Claus? There is one line of the story that explains that the disguised daughter and son-in-law are not “old Santa Claus and his wife.” That’s it. But this was enough to plant a seed. Other writers expanded on the idea that Santa was a married man. 

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Kindly Mrs. Claus exhibits the Christmas spirit all year round. (cpr.org)

Mrs. Claus, Yale, and Hessian High Boots

A student at Yale University, whose name was merely written as ‘A.B.’, published a short story in the Yale Literary Magazine in 1851 which gives a description of Santa Claus. It also contained a brief, yet important reference to Mrs. Claus. It said, “In bounded that jolly, fat and funny old elf, Santa Claus. His array was indescribably fantastic. He seemed to have done his best, and we should think, had Mrs. Santa Claus to help him.”

In 1854, a holiday musicale performed at the State Lunatic Asylum in Utica, New York, included a scene in which Mrs. Santa Claus danced a holiday jig … with a baby in her arms.

Sadly, no description of this Mrs. Claus was given, but author Robert St. Clar provided us with an early one in 1864. In his humorous novel, The Metropolites, St. Clar writes that Mrs. Claus made an appearance in a woman’s dream. She was described as wearing “Hessian high boots, a dozen of red petticoats, and an old, large straw bonnet.”

Was Mrs. Claus Santa’s Secretary?

In the 1878 children’s book, Lill in Santa Claus Land and Other Stories, which was published in Boston and written by Ellis Towne, Sophia May, and Ella Farman, there is a scene in which Santa is using a spy glass to peer out the window of his office to check the behavior of children. He reports back his findings to a “lady sitting by a golden desk, writing in a large book.” This story does not tell us, however, if this woman is Santa’s wife or an employee.