St. Nick's Day :)

Growing up in a mostly German Catholic town, Kyle also grew up celebrating St. Nicholas' Day. Rather than finding an orange in a smelly shoe, he and his siblings found their stockings filled on December 6th instead of on Christmas morning, as I had been accustomed to. He shared this tradition with our "family" when that just meant Kyle+Jennifer, and we have since expanded on it to bring a little early Christmas cheer to my family.

I have been thinking about this idea of Saint Nicholas, turned Sinter Klaus (and - on a random note- I thought you might like to know that my fingers totally typed Stinker Klaus at first) turned Kris Kringle, etc and have really come to like the idea of celebrating St. Nick's Day. Is it because he has been dubbed canonized the Patron Saint of sailors, sea merchants, archers, children, pawnbrokers and more? Nope. It's because this man Nicholas understood an important part of Christmas before it became Christmas as we know it. Like so many people the Catholic church reveres as saints, this guy was a cool one. Or, at least the various stories attributed to him in history are cool, and are worth learning from. For example - with regards to the December 6th Feast of St. Nicholas (and then the extrapolation we've made to gift-giving), he allegedly inherited a bunch of money and gave it to people who needed it. He devoted his life to serving the sick, the poor, the motherless children... to serving a God who called him to do so.

I'm not the biggest fan of this whole Santa Claus craze, which I'll save for another post. After all, this really started out just as a post to share our recent St. Nick's Day until I got on a tangent :) But really - like hugging a life-sized Mickey Mouse in Walt Disney World makes me smile, I like the idea of Santa Claus. The idea of merriment and good will and peace and fun and stuff. Heck, I tape and watch every Santa Claus and Christmas special I can, claymation or otherwise, and watch them each and every year. But the "magic" attributed to him? The threats of no Christmas if he sees you misbehaving in his superhero all-knowing kind of way? That stuff kind of bums me out when I think about what implications it has on the story of Jesus - both as a distraction during the holidays and as a source of confusion when children find out that Santa isn't exactly who they thought. (ie, Then, is God really who they've been taught, or just another cool legend?)

Anyway, at the risk of losing your interest and/or rambling too much since I've yet to completely gather my own thoughts on the matter.... I like St. Nicholas Day. I like incorporating the values of a kind, generous man spreading joy in a tangible - and fun - way. I like giving my children and others that I love gifts. I like learning about (and in time, teaching) various traditions around the world. And I like that December 6th is a different day than December 25th, when I would rather be celebrating something different than Santa.

So without further ado, since there has already been much of that :), our St. Nick's Day, 2009 --

The girls found some necklaces, stuffed lady bugs, small books, jingle bells, and new Mickey Mouse big girl silverware in their stockings, as well as the next ornament in their series.

Kyle and I got ornaments as well (mine from the series Kyle started buying for me several years ago), and a few goodies - though not too much this year, because there will be plenty of yummy junk to eat this season as it is! Even Thea got a bag of treats. :)

The Lawless girls' 4th Annual Cookie Day is Saturday, so stay tuned for lots of mouth-watering pictures from that. Until then, try and stay warm!