Isn't "Santa Claus" the same as "Saint Nicholas" and isn't he the Patron Saint of thieves? Isn't that why when you "nick" something, what you've really done is stolen it? We ask "Saint Nick" for things at Christmas, but as we check our wallets, hasn't something been nicked from us? And if we consider the government to be our Santa Claus, what happens on the Ides of April?