Happy St. Nicholas Day!

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day!  We celebrate this day each year.  We love this old-fashioned tradition!  We bake Spiced Star Speculaas Cookies from Holland and read the story of St. Nicholas from Germany (it is found in the Winter Wynstones Press book).  

Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, who lived around AD 325.  He was well-known and loved for his kindness and generosity, especially towards children.  He provided food, clothing, and gold to the very poor.  Legend has it that he rides his white horse down from the stars in the heavens on the night of his birthday (Dec. 6) to visit children and to prepare their hearts for the coming of Jesus Christ.  

So, on the night of December 6th, my children leave their shoes, filled with hay for St. Nicholas's horse, by the front door.  The next morning, their shoes are filled with a little candy and their first gifts of Christmas time.  (In our home, it is always a book wrapped in pretty paper and tied with ribbon.)

Happy St. Nicholas Day!