Feast of St. Nicholas 2017

One of our favorite feast days during Advent is the feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 6)!  

There are so many legends linked to the modern day Santa Claus. According to one tradition, about 300 years after Christ, in the region we now call Turkey, a man named Nicholas lived by the seaport of Myra. He was a good and holy man, believed to have been the Bishop of Myra, who eventually became Saint Nicholas. As a young man, Nicholas used his entire inheritance to help the poor, sick, and suffering. By his generous example, especially to children, he continues to be a model for all. "The Giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic His giving by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves." ~ St. Nicholas


Around the world people will celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas with different traditions.  Some leave shoes out, others hang their stockings up, all hoping that St. Nicholas will stop by and leave a small gift of some sort: orange, candy cane, chocolate gold coins, books, etc.

Our children always leave their shoes out the night before (something I did as a child).

St. Nicholas always leaves our children a new Christmas book, chocolate gold coins, and maybe something extra.

Miss Ester received a Christmas poetry book, Manger, because of her artistic and creative writing abilities.

Miss Mabel received the book, A Christmas Like Helen's, because she took the name of Helen as her Confirmation saint earlier this year.

Stan received the book, Shooting at the Stars, (a true story) because he loves to watch and read about war stories and history.

Miss Clementine received the book, Itsy Bitsy Christmas, because she adores anything Nativity!

And even Miss Sally received a special box down at school with this beautiful book in it for her ::

In the morning we ate warm, gooey cinnamon rolls!

This kids also received a new Christmas movie to add to the collection ::

In the afternoon, the girls helped me make these easy-peasy St. Nicholas cookies we saw over at Catholic Cuisine.

Aren't they adorable?!  

The older kids have outgrown the saint movies we own, but Miss Clementine still enjoys them, including this St. Nicholas one.

As the kids get older, the excitement wears off a bit, but I think they still enjoy seeing what little treasure they receive each year no matter how old they are.  

As for all the Christmas books...

Five kiddos + one new book each, each year = a lot of Christmas books.  I mark their names in the books they receive each year, and some day, they will have a beautiful collection to share with their own families.

St. Nicholas, patron saint of children, sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, brewers, pawn brokers, and students in other countries, pray for us!

~ Patty ~