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Living in Holland, Michigan, a city founded by Dutch settlers, it was easy to have Dutch touches in our St. Nicholas observance. When our children were young, and not so young, they placed their wooden shoes, with pieces of carrots, by the fireplace on the evening of December 5th. In the morning the boys would find two Matchbox cars and a gold mesh bag of Dutch chocolate coins. Our daughter might find a piece of jewelry or special barrettes. Over the years, Dutch chocolate initial letters found their way into the shoes and the cars and toys gave way to a tape, a book, or earrings. In such simple ways, St. Nicholas Day helped us connect faith and giving and have a bit of fun early in the waiting weeks of Advent.
How about leaving a bag of food on their doorknob or porch. Is there someone who needs a hot meal and a listening ear because they have no one? Keep in mind, you need to perform your Nicholas deed in private or it’s not in the spirit of St. Nicholas. Reading aloud as a family is one of my most peaceful moments during the crazy holiday season. Bundling them together and putting them on a bright red platter underneath our stockings just makes them stand out as that much more special. The first year St. Nick brought this gift, he left everything on a pretty red tray from Ikea.
Saint Nicholas Gift
For St. Nicholas Day we give gingerbread to my children's classmates and teacher, neighbours and dear friends. We pile in the car early, early on the 6th and deliver brown bags of gingerbread to the neighbours. In the remaining weeks before Christmas, we try to emphasize how nice it was to receive gifts. Now we do the same for others, for this is what God does at Christmas.
His ancestors came to the US long enough ago that they have lost any European customs. When our first child was born, we wanted to acknowledge both backgrounds, and we also wanted to try to steer the Christmas focus from toys and gimme gimme. We started the custom of writing letters to St Nicholas. On the evening of Dec 5, we put them in our shoes and place the shoes at the fireplace. Sometimes we put a carrot for the reindeer, horse, or whatever animal he was using.
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The main tradition of the holiday is gifts and sweets, which are put under the pillow for the kids on the holy night. In the morning children can wake to find some simple gifts waiting for them such as fruits, candies or treats in their shoes. This day is also celebrated in many places in America near the beginning of the season of Advent and preludes what we now refer to as Santa Claus. A small container of putty or dough is a new activity to enjoy during the day and can easily be shared with siblings. A coloring book or new paint set also offer lots of fun. You can even have your kids create some holiday decorations with their new craft supplies to put up around the house.
You can also help them write a short note for Saint Nicholas about how they were generous or kind over the past year. If you want, also give them a few carrots to leave in their shoes or stocking for Saint Nicholas’ donkey. When they wake up the next morning, they’ll be delighted to find the carrots eaten and new treats and goodies in their place. The holiday season is often many children’s favorite time of year—and ours too. It’s filled with friends, family, gift giving and lots of wonderful celebrations.
Oreos and Candy Cane Chocolate Bark
Usually these were practical, such as a big new eraser, sometimes fattening, as in candy, and sometimes special—a toy car, or something. This season long present-giving matched our opening of Advent House doors and evening readings around the table . We found that this St. Nicholas observance both subtracted from the tension children bring to the one-hour-long package tearing open on Dec 24 or 25 and built expectation for the Greater One to come. These family gift basket ideas are perfect for a gift from St. Nicholas.
Gold chocolate coins, Sacagawea dollar coins, other money, or gift certificate to represent the money Nicholas threw into the window of a poor family’s house. And I now have an entire set of printable Advent Saint peg dolls! You just follow my step by step directions to paint the heads, and you decoupage the rest! Even St. Nick’s hat decoupages on so you don’t have to paint that either. St. Nicholas is wearing little green mittens on the peg doll, which means you can paint your own peg with any skin tone that you wish for St. Nick! This is useful because this Saint is celebrated across so many cultures, and his story originates in Turkey.
Dulce de Leche Hot Chocolate Pods
So we bake, sew, glue, and paste for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. Decorating the St. Nicholas Tree To tide them over, we have the St. Nicholas Tree, a tabletop artificial tree that lives in the attic and comes out on December 6th, the Feast Day of St. Nicholas. I brought it down to their bedroom after bath time tonight. They were so excited, opening their boxes of ornaments, stringing the lights. After Christmas, each of the ornaments is loving preserved by my wife who will, someday, present them to each child as a wedding gift for their first Christmas Tree. One of my favorite customs is the Advent practice of writing a letter to the Holy Child mentioning resolutions for the weeks of Advent and listing all gift wishes.
I love to collect Catholic books for our home that follow the liturgical year! I usually do this by just purchasing 1 or 2 for a season, and repeating this year after year. Over time the library grows, and before you know it, you have a beautiful liturgical book collection for your kids! This is a super fun tradition, kids love it, and it helps explain where the whole “Santa Clause” thing comes from. It is an excellent way to live the liturgical year with your kids, and just super fun all around!
And the real test is not to put a greeting card on the package so there will be no payback. The bishop went back home and sent a servant to the market to find out who Silas was and what he was selling. Bishop Nicolas said, "This must not be." So he sent his servant for three nights to drop a purse of gold on Silas' porch. Playmobile Nativity Set- This is one of the kids favorite sets because it has so many small and amazing pieces! The Miracle Of St. Nicholas– Another beautiful picture book with a story of St. Nicholas. Offset is an amazing collection of licensable, high-end photography and illustrations.
We are blessed with a few family friends who honor St. Nicholas in a variety of ways, including what has grown into a Secret St. Nicholas gift-giving the night of Dec. 5. (We are all sneaking around in the dark leaving small, symbolic gifts at the other families' doors.) We do receive gifts on Christmas morning in our house from each other and family. The children wake to lots of candles, all the crèches are out, the baby Jesus is now in the the manger, and the Christ candle is finally lit in our Advent wreath. We knew that our efforts to celebrate in this way were worthwhile when our children began by-passing the Christmas tree full of presents and heading straight for the crèche on Christmas morning. To keep on-theme with the traditions of Saint Nicholas, try to find some chocolate coins to fill your kids’ shoes. Candy canes are another festive treat perfect for the holiday season.
Tucked between major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, Saint Nicholas Day is a lesser known holiday celebration, but one we recommend adding to your winter traditions. Learn more about this fun holiday, from its history to how to celebrate. Thanks to some wonderful discussions at our church years ago, my husband and I decided to celebrate St. Nicholas with our children on Dec. 6 and reserve Dec. 25th for the celebration of Christ's birth.
I’m a convert to Catholicism and your blog has given me lots of ideas to share my faith with my 11 and 12 year old children who are a different faith. I’m learning so much from your blog and traditions that you share are one of the things that I love about Catholicism. I absolutely love providing children with toys and figurines of the Saints rather than only ever having Disney characters for them to play with. Here is a collection of some of my absolute favorite Saint Nicholas doll options for kids.
Saint Nicholas Sticker, Saint Nicholas Sticker, Saint Nicholas Water Resistant Vinyl Matte Sticker, Catholic Sticker
One piggy bank can be for saving, and one can be for donating. Let your children determine how to divide their newly acquired coins. Use 1 1/4 can of cresant rolls for bottom of candy cane-remaining 2/4 for stripes on top. Mix 1 cream chese, 1/4 powdered sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla.
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