St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas Day Boots!

Lily's St. Nicholas ornament

Happy St. Nicholas Day! For those of you who don't know, this is a European/German tradition- and one that I celebrated with my family every year growing up (we are very German after all)!

St. Nicholas was the real-life bishop in what is now Turkey. He earned his sainthood for numerous miracles, but his neighbors knew him best as a kind and generous man with a great fondness for children (the original Santa). In some areas of Germany St. Nicholas still comes as a bishop with flowing beard and a bishop's miter and staff. Houses are thoroughly cleaned and children clean and polish their shoes or boots in preparation for the saint's visit. On the evening before St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6th), children put letters to the good saint along with carrots or other food for his white horse or donkey on a plate or in their shoes. The shoes are left outside, under the bed, beside a radiator, or on a windowsill in hopes of finding goodies from St. Nicholas the next morning. During the night Sankt Nikolaus goes from house to house carrying a book in which all the children's deeds are written. If they have been good, he fills their plate, shoe or boot with delicious fruits, nuts and candies. If not, they may find potatoes, coal, or twigs. Today, in many parts of the world Saint Nicholas delivers gifts on the eve of his Feast Day, December 6, and Christmas is reserved for the religious observance of Christ's birth.

Lily found her boot from St. Nicholas this morning- including a few small gifts (like the Curious George monkey you see above), two Christmas books, and her Christmas ornament. Every year growing up I got my yearly Christmas ornament in my St. Nicholas stocking (so this has become one of the most important parts of the tradition). I'll post more later about her ornaments (it's a good little story). Joe and I also got a few little goodies (including chocolate) in our boot! I think that Lily had the most fun though playing with the boots (as you can see in the picture)!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!