Happy St. Nicholas Day

Today is St. Nicholas Day. This was yet another tradition I became familiar with in Europe. It is always celebrated on December 6th. The tradition is to put out your shoe on December 5th and then St. Nicholas will leave a SMALL gift or treat in your shoe.

There are many similarities between St. Nicholas and Santa. St. Nicholas brings gifts in the night, but unlike Santa who travels with reindeer, St. Nicholas travels on horse so the children may want to leave a carrot or apple in the shoe for his horse. He was also known for his secret gift giving and did many things for children. For more info about St. Nicholas click here

This is meant to be a simple celebration just to add some extra cheer during the season.

We left our shoes out on December 5th and woke up to this: