St. Nicholas Day

Yesterday (December 6th) we continued our annual celebration of St. Nicholas Day -- it's quickly becoming one of our favorite holidays of the year! For our family, this has become the day the when we do all our Santa Claus stuff... since the idea of Santa is based on the real life of St. Nicholas. Nicholas, as we've learned, was actually a pretty cool guy. Even as a young man, he gave away his wealth to poor people in need -- and always anonymously. So, in honor of him, we do our Christmas stockings and other fun activities on this day.

This year we expanded our celebration to include a big dinner with a couple other families-- and it was a lot of fun! Since Nicholas was from Turkey, we ventured out from our normal fare and made some Middle Eastern recipes (Moroccan Chicken -- thanks to my friend Deb!; Shepherd's Salad; and pita bread with homemade hummus). After dinner the kids decorated (and quickly inhaled) gingerbread men/women/kids (gingerbread is another delicacy loosely traced back to St. Nicholas).

Then we gathered all the kids in the living room to tell the story of Nicholas, and talk about how we can celebrate him by imitating his generosity and love for people.... and then in the middle of this....

DING-DONG!

The doorbell rang, but when all the kids rushed to the door, no one was there! There was, however, a big box with interesting-looking bags in it, each labeled with a child's name... It was fun to see their delight -- both in the little treats, and in the mystery about who rang the doorbell! (The older boys started a house-wide interrogation, but they never were quite satisfied with the answers they received. For some reason, they just didn't buy the idea that it was probably a great-great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas.)

The celebration was full of all the noise, laughter, and fun that you would expect with 15 people in a small-ish house -- definitely a St. Nicholas Day to remember!

(After the other families went home, our kids put out their stockings before they went to sleep... and woke up this morning to find some fun little games in them. It's fun to start the presents this early -- and to spread out the excitement of Christmas. Now we will put all our Santa stuff away.... and be able to just focus on Jesus for the rest of the Advent season!)