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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.
Share your story with your children and your grandchildren, your godchildren, nieces and nephews. Share your story with your neighbors and those who may not have heard it yet. Ultimately, the story is about the birth of Jesus, the Word of God, Child of God. "To dwell among us," as St. John says, literally, "to pitch his tent among us," so that we would be closer to God and God's love. And each day (unless one or all was egregiously out of line!) there'd be a little present in each sock.
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It's the least I could do after all of these years of my parents' generosity. We give out little gold covered chocolate coins and a little gift for each child. St. Lucy's Day, December 13, we have coffee and fresh cinnamon rolls in honor of the Lucia Bride, part of Dorothy's Swedish heritage. In rearing our children, Dorothy and I looked for ways to observe Advent that did not step on Christmas. We have Advent calendars and often send Advent calendars to godchildren.
🙂 So here are some ides for celebrating this beautiful feast day with your family! Also, you can find all of my resources for Catholic families during Advent here. If you want to start a new holiday tradition with your little ones, here are some ideas on how to celebrate St. Nicholas Day in your home. Help your kids pick out a pair of shoes or a fun stocking to put out on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, December 5. If they opt for a stocking, have them help decorate the mantel with fun garland and stocking hooks.
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The hostesses baked pies, laid festive tables and invited neighbors to visit to honor the memory of St. Nicholas together and celebrate the holiday. Another great book I think you’d enjoy is The Kneeling Santa story! With the anticipation and anxiety about getting presents for Christmas.
This is their tree, and I keep my mitts off it, no matter how clumped together all the red balls are or how big the hole in the lights is. This is where they get to hang all the ornaments that come from the fast food places, the plastic TV characters that I prefer to leave off the big tree. It's where the chintzier items that have been handed down from Patrick's family find a home. A dollar-store set of china nativity figurines—with pasty white complexions and painted-on eyelashes that resemble Tammy Faye Baker's—takes shelter under its boughs. Our family observes St Nicholas Eve—my husband is of German descent.
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St. Nicholas, giver of gifts, is known by many names—St. He is said to have been a bishop in Myra, a city in Southwestern Asia Minor, during the fourth century. Of course, some families opened presents on the eve of the big day and this removed the anxiety until the morning of the day before the evening celebration. Found something you love but want to make it even more uniquely you? Many sellers on Etsy offer personalized, made-to-order items. Crafts are always fun to do with kids and it makes a great conversation starter.
Molly Sabourin and her eight-year-old son Elijah discuss St. Nicholas and how their Orthodox family celebrate him. It isn't always easy to be out of sync with the surrounding culture's emphasis on Santa. So Elijah reads The Real Santa and his mom reads St. Nicholas Gets the Goods.
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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.
On the easy side of things, a pre-packaged complete gingerbread house kit makes an excellent gift from St. Nick. In preparation for many family dinners and festive snack needs, St. Nick stocks us up with several yummy things to enjoy together all December long. Often it is on St. Nicholas Day in many cities that they put up Christmas trees in the squares, arrange New Year's Eve festivities, fairs and concerts. Charitable organizations congratulate orphans on this bright holiday.
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.
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.
If you prefer, you can skip to the last paragraph of what I'm saying and start to lay the groundwork for a special day and it could become a tradition in your family whether you are religious or not. Most of us remember the days when we couldn't sleep the night before Christmas because of our anxiety and impatience to see what was there for us under the tree. My parents had to try to keep me quiet, read to me, do anything to soothe my excitement. From handmade pieces to vintage treasures ready to be loved again, Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. It’s also home to a whole host of one-of-a-kind items made with love and extraordinary care.
The letter was not a long list of stuff desired, but a polite letter inquiring after St. Nicholas' previous year and saying how we were, how the writer had grown, high points of past year and so on. If a wished for item or two was mentioned, that was okay. In our house we celebrate St. Nicholas day and have a visit from Santa on Christmas, too. From our point of view they are one and the same but Santa visits everyone—even those who don't understand who he really is. He always writes a "pastoral letter" and he even suggested one year that on Christmas we say a prayer and sing a carol at the manger before opening presents—a tradition we have kept up ever since.
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.
