St. Nicholas Day 2013

Read about past St. Nicholas Days: 2011 and 2012.

Baby has a stocking, just in case.

I don't know whether it's three years of practice or the fact that my kids are getting old enough to understand, but this was our best St. Nicholas Day celebration yet, in my opinion. We have two picture books that tell the story of Nicholas -- My Christmas Stocking and The Legend of the Christmas Stocking -- that we've been reading frequently this week, and Levi especially is really grasping the concept of giving to people who don't have as much as we do.

In holding to the traditions, we dropped gold coins into the boys' shoes for them to find first thing this morning. I don't even know why I still had a little bag of gold-wrapped chocolate coins in my cupboard, leftover from some holiday last year, but old, cheap chocolate is just fine for little people.

Lined up under the felt Christmas tree.

Littlest man is digging the chocolate coin.

They were more eager for presents than breakfast this morning (though pregnant mommy was not of the same mind!), so they each opened one gift after the coins. This year we went extremely simple and got each a book and a treat: for Levi (my inquisitive one), a new Magic School Bus book; for Owen (my artistic one), Harold and the Purple Crayon; and for Silas (my animal-loving one), Colors Everywhere (another story about the nutbrown hare father-son duo from Guess How Much I Love You). 

Yeah, we stayed in jammies all day. :)

Breakfast today was a crockpot casserole (hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, cheese) and homemade donuts with chocolate frosting. I knew the big boys wouldn't eat the casserole, but I figure if the donuts are 100% whole wheat, low in natural cane sugar, and fried in palm shortening, they can chow down! And chow down they did . . . 

Learning to dip donuts in milk from Daddy.

This kid needs a haircut.

Silas actually preferred the casserole and didn't get too chocolatey.

Owen, on the other hand . . . 

After breakfast, it was back to the living room to open their treat (a "chocolate safari," organic chocolate with animal crackers pressed into it), which we did NOT eat immediately (given the chocolate frosting just consumed and all). 

The stocking is nearly as tall as he is.

Levi and Owen both also had an envelope containing a $10 bill in their stockings, which we hope to be our new tradition. We talked again about St. Nicholas's example, and how there are people in the world who don't have enough to eat. Nicholas used the money his parents left him to help a needy family, and so Levi and Owen would get to use the money from Mommy and Daddy to do the same. We browsed the Heifer project site and let each boy pick which animal (for $10) they'd like to send to a needy family. In reality, $10 only buys a share of an animal, but we decided they didn't know the difference anyway and it was the principle that mattered. Levi chose a pig and Owen chose a sheep. :) I'm hopeful that perhaps one day my four boys will decide it makes more of an impact to pool their resources and give even more generously -- but individual giving is fine, too!

Scoping out the giving options.

While last year we tried out the German tradition of Stutenkerl, this year I made Dutch pepernoten: peppernuts. It seemed fitting, since my in-laws have a former Dutch exchange student staying with them this month, a young man to whom my boys have taken quite the liking. Also, in the Netherlands, the day that St. Nicholas arrives by boat is a huge festival, taking place in cities all over. This year, the biggest festival is in the town that this young man comes from! Anyway, peppernuts are not nuts, just little cookies with a big spice factor. I halved the recipe given in that link and it still made a ton, and pinching off the tiny pieces of dough takes forever. But they are good! (Young Adults Bible study, you'll be seeing them on Tuesday . . . )

Boys eating peppernuts.

Later in the afternoon, I came into the living room to find Levi reading Harold and the Purple Crayon to Owen. I love, love, love little moments like these!!

We finished out our day with a romp in the snow (and by "we" I mean "they") and a taste of the best egg nog on the planet (according to my husband), from a little dairy local to my parents, Hartzler's. You can sometimes find it at Jungle Jim's or Whole Foods here in Cincinnati. (Again, Young Adults Bible study, you'll be seeing it on Tuesday . . . )

Happy St. Nicholas Day!