happy saint nicholas day!

when it was time for katherine to start kindergarten,
we sent her to a private, catholic school
for primary (k-3). 

when december rolled
around the following year,
katherine's teacher, mrs. young,
shared the legend of saint nicholas
with katherine's class.
that afternoon,
when katherine got in our van,
she informed me 
december 6th would be st. nicholas day.
  
she explained,
if she placed her shoes on the hearth
 the night before,
saint nicholas would come
and fill her shoes with goodies.

so, i did a little research
 and found 
st. nicholas was a man of great faith
who lived his life in order to glorify Christ.
saint nicholas loved children
and cared for the needy.
further,
 he brought the love and healing of Jesus to both.
st. nicholas was the epitome of selfless giving
always honoring God who had given the world
His Son,
Jesus Christ,
the greatest Gift of all.

i also found,
by celebrating this early advent holiday,
 it helped katherine to better understand
santa claus
by revealing the real man
who inspired the familiar
legend and traditions.

so, we started the tradition
that year.
 we  placed an old pair of her slippers
on the hearth each december 5th evening,
and each december 6th morning
we discovered
saint nicholas had arrived during the night,
replaced the old shoes
with new ones,
and
filled the new ones
with candy.

~@~

what a sweet tradition;
thank you, mrs. young!

jolly old saint nicholas
still comes to this day...

love and God's blessings,

dani xxx