Meet the real Santa Claus: St Nicholas

Santa beware! Activists in Germany are waging an international campaign to do away with old Father Christmas and say they are gaining ground thanks to the global economic meltdown.

The "Santa-Free Zone" movement says it is gathering steam this year against what it calls the hollow commercialization of Christmas.

Launched by a German Catholic priest in 2002, the campaign aims to knock Santa off his pedestal and replace what they see as a cheap, American import with the real thing: Saint Nicholas.