Don Nicolás del Camino

Before the world called him Santa Claus, Joaquín called him Nino.Mesilla, New Mexico, 1854. Twelve-year-old Joaquín Ortega watches one flag come down and another rise above his hometown. The border has shifted, familiar names are changing, and Joaquín fears that children like him-and families like his-will soon be forgotten.His godfather, carpenter Don Nicolás Montoya, answers that fear with a promise: no child should be forgotten at Christmas.With a wooden carreta filled with handmade gifts, Don Nicolás and Joaquín set out across the cold New Mexican desert on Christmas Eve. Guided by luminarias, strengthened by the prayers of their community, and challenged by one painful mistake, Joaquín must discover that generosity requires more than giving to the people we already understand.Rooted in New Mexican history, Mexican American heritage, Catholic tradition, and the warmth of Las Posadas, Don Nicolás del Camino imagines how an ordinary carpenter's promise might have traveled across generations-and how the world may have come to know him as Santa Claus.Beautifully illustrated and written for middle-grade readers, families, classrooms, and Christmas read-alouds, this heartfelt novella offers a new holiday legend about courage, belonging, forgiveness, and the responsibility to remember every child.Some Christmas legends begin in snow.This one begins on a desert road lit by fire.