Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas made a visit to our house Monday. I have been wanting to start the tradition of celebrating Saint Nicholas day since Landon was a baby, but every year it didn't work out for some reason. This year I was determined to make it work, and had gifts ready to go a few weeks ahead of time. The boys set our their shoes Sunday night, and woke in the morning to find a few chocolate gold coins inside and a wrapped package on top. The packages contained books, and we set about reading them right away.

They were excited to have something small to celebrate before Christmas, and I had fun starting a new tradition. Although, next year I do think Saint Nicholas will have to bring some winter or Christmas books. I just think it will add to the feeling of the season a bit more. Also, I would like to do something like Chelsea and maybe make some handknit socks for them too. But that's the fun in starting a new tradition - you can change it a little bit to make it work for your family.

We have also been doing small Advent calendars (the ones made of paper where you open a little window every day), and it's been fun to talk every morning about which day it is and how many more days until Christmas. I have tried in the past to do much more elaborate Advent calendars, and they just didn't work out for us. Too much work for me and the kids didn't really care about them. I think this year we are doing it just right for their ages. It is so fun to see them getting caught up in the wonder and magic of this time of year!

1 comment:

Chelsea said...

That truly is the great thing about traditions -- about experimenting with them early on, before the little guys actually come to expect something. I did the socks because the festival is associated with shoes -- but last year Pan got a new pair of boots, and in the future I can definitely see slippers, leg warmers, so many possibilities! +C