Happy St. Nicholas Day!

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Today (December 6th) is St. Nicholas Day, and to celebrate this fun occasion, we carried on our tradition of secretly delivering some treats to a few neighbors tonight with a little note.  
Some years, we have baked cookies and delivered them, but we simplified and just printed off this St. Nicholas template to wrap around snack size candy bars. Last year we used Hershey bars and this year, Kit Kat was the candy of choice since those are Taylor's favorite in case we had some leftovers. 
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/candy-bar-wrappers/


This was the note that we delivered with the Kit Kats wrapped up in St. Nicholas attire. 
We had to dart behind the alley a few times as doors opened and people looked around, but of course that just added to the fun. 

My favorite part of the night was when Anna ran up to me after sprinting from a neighbor's porch while trying not to get caught, and she said, "This is THRILLING!" 



Run, run, as fast as you can! 



our St. Nicholas puppet along for the escapade last year... 


Traditional celebrations of St. Nicholas Day include gifts left in children’s shoes (from which American Christmas stockings developed).
Here are Anna and Taylor's shoes left out last night with the surprise waiting 
for them this morning of finding chocolate coins and some chocolate bars of their own

a great link here for more information about St. Nick...
http://theartofsimple.net/st-nicholas-the-real-santa-claus/
Favorite book for St. Nicholas Day: 

Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend

by Julie Stiegemeyer  (Author) , Chris Ellison (Illustrator)
Amazon's summary of it: "Many parents and teachers struggle with how to approach the Saint Nicholas/Santa Claus dilemma. Many deal with this by telling children that the legends surrounding Santa Claus are based on a real, historical figure named Nicholas, a Christian bishop known for his generosity. This picture book presents a shortened, somewhat fictionalized version of the life of Saint Nicholas, explaining that Nicholas was a servant of God and that, through him, Gods love was reflected to others. The story touches on the ministry of Nicholas and his generous gift of a dowry to three young girls as a response to Gods love in Jesus. And it brings application to our own lives as we, too, respond with grateful hearts to Gods great gift of love to us. Combining museum-quality artwork and family friendly language, this book clearly articulates how God showered His love upon us through Christ and helps children see that our own gift-giving is a grateful response to the sacrificial gift of Gods Son." 

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