Saint Nicholas Day!

Traditions are THE best! I LOVE keeping old ones alive year after year, and also celebrating new ones! It thrills my heart to see how excited my kids get about a particular tradition we have developed. It's also super fun introducing them to new ones!! This week, we started a new tradition that I think the kids will really look forward to year after year. Yesterday was Saint Nicholas Day and we had fun learning all about this man and celebrating his birthday. On Wednesday night, before bedtime,  I read the kids a short story about Nicholas' life. I'm not really sure how much of it was real vs. legend though, but the main point of the story was that Nicholas was a kind, generous man who lived his life serving others in need. 

St. Nicholas Day is actually a very fun, festive holiday observed by many people around the world today.  We learned that one way children in other countries celebrate this day is by placing their shoes outside their door on the eve of St. Nicholas Day.  In the morning, they wake up, and are delighted to find little toys, coins, and oranges left in their shoes during the night. As we learned about how others celebrate Christmas in different parts of the world, we decided it would be fun to participate in this neat tradition as well.

The kids each left out one of their shoes (AK left two because her feet are soooo tiny) in the playroom on Wednesday night (the eve of St. Nicholas Day). In the morning, the kids were thrilled to wake up and find their own shoes filled to the brim with several  little treats.

They each got a new ornament to hang on our Christmas tree, a M&M filled candy cane, and some chocolate coins. 

 The chocolate was the biggest HIT (of course) and the kids indulged in just a little bit of it before breakfast;)

What a fun tradition to add to our holiday celebrations, and one I know we will all look forward to year after year!