St. Nicholas Day

I'm 30 and it still amazes me how no one knows about this day. Every year I have celebrated St Nick's day on December 6th. As a child, I never really cared why. As an adult, I'm constantly curious and looking to see if I can find someone else who celebrates this day.

Saint Nicholas was a very giving Saint. His parents raised him to be very faithful to the Lord and taught him (by example) to give to those in need. The following story can be found at http://www.stnicholascenter.org/

"One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver."

Traditions seem to vary from person to person (according to the website!! Like I mentioned before, I don't know many who celebrate this day.) but in our family, we hang stockings when we decorate the house for Christmas. On the morning of December 6th, we wake up to find St. Nick has put a few goodies in our stocking. He always left an ornament in our stocking as kids, and I have them all on my tree today. He continues to leave an ornament for my kiddos (and Tom & I as well), along with a few exciting items that are small enough to fit in the stocking.

This has been a normal part of my life, but I had a hard time trying to figure out how to explain to Brock that St. Nick isn't exactly Santa Claus. I was absolutely ecstatic to find a DVD this year! I wasn't even looking, it just caught my eye at Target a couple weeks ago! It's a new Veggie Tales (we LOVE Veggie Tales!) movie about St. Nicholas.



So, a Happy Belated St. Nicholas' Day to you all! Maybe just one blog reader might start up a new tradition next December 6th!

Um, just because I'm writing about such a holy, and faithful tradition, you didn't think my kids actually took that to heart, did you? This is how St. Nick's Day 2009 started..........

Trying...

As good as it's going to get...