Happy St. Nicholas Day! Today for our advent activities we are celebrating St. Nicholas’ Feast Day.
Last year, Nathan and I decided that we are not going to “do” Santa Claus. Not because we think he’s a bad guy or a bad idea….we just want to shift the focus a bit. Someday when our son is asked about Christmas, we want Jesus….the incarnation….the “Love Came Down” aspect of Christmas to be what first comes to his mind. (Not presents and Santa Claus). It’s a tough feat to overcome, especially in our society and culture. Elias will likely get way more presents than he needs on Christmas from family on all sides. He doesn’t need more from a fictional character.
But I went into our reasoning and thought process a lot last year, (you can read that post here) and don’t want to repeat myself. For this year, we are just excited to continue our fledgling tradition. We celebrate St. Nicholas Feast day instead of Santa Claus. Santa Claus is based on a real person, you know…St. Nicholas of Myra.
Here is our 2nd annual celebration of St. Nicholas Feast Day:
1. Someone leaves chocolate gold coins in Elias’ shoes the night before St. Nicholas Day.
2. We read the story of the real St. Nicholas and talk about him.
3. We give a gift in honor of St. Nicholas
So here you go:
Elias’ shoe just looks so cute with the little coins in it!
1. This morning when Elias woke up, there were chocolate gold coins hidden in his shoe! It was fun because Daddy was still home due to a certification test he had to take today. (He passed. Yay!) So when Daddy went to put on his shoes and leave for the test, Elias of course followed him. They both found gold coins in their shoes. Elias was delighted.
When I asked Elias, “Who do you think put those coins in your shoe?” He simply answered, “Not the kitties.”
Well there you go….the kitties didn’t do it. He’s been talking about it all day, though. (And he’s been talking about the fact that I let him eat two of them). Here are some pictures of Elias discovering his chocolates:
Looking in his shoe.
Elias was very excited about his find!
Elias looking at his Saint Nicholas book.
2. Another activity for today was to read the real story of Saint Nicholas. I used the story Saint Nicholas: The story of the real Santa Claus retold by Mary Joslin. It was given to Elias as a gift, and it is perfect! Elias loved pointing out Saint Nicholas on each page. He likes especially pointing out the beard, and he likes the page where St. Nick is on the rooftop the best.
The story is simple, really. Saint Nicholas is trying to anonymously do a good deed for a poor family. The father of the family had spent time to help repair the church roof even though he did not have enough money to repair his own. He sends the gold coins down the chimney, and they land in the shoes and socks of the children who live there which are drying by the fire. Our conversations about the story were fun.
3. Eventually, we want Elias to choose where our gift will go. But he is still a bit young to be making decisions on charities. Maybe next year. For this year, we’ve decided on a good one….in honor of potty training! It’s something we’ve been trying off and on and after some initial success, we’ve been met mostly with resistance. But boy are we thankful for toilets! Check out Deck the Stalls. The Blood:Water Mission is a really excellent group, and I’ve supported many of their causes since I found out about them. They are concerned with providing water, and hygiene/sanitation services to people in Africa as well as projects surrounding AIDS. We are excited to be “Decking the Stalls” this year.