Another Heads Up, Mommas: The Feast of St. Nicholas is on Monday!

Since today is the 4th of December and a Saturday and because we like to keep the Sabbath Day holy by avoiding unnecessary shopping, this is the day to make your excuses to Dad and kids and run out for any treats you might want to fit into the shoes that will be lined up waiting on St. Nicholas Day, Monday morning! To that end, I scrambled around a bit this morning (while you are were sound asleep, over there in the States) to find some quick and easy, but meaningful...

Ideas for St. Nicholas Day

The enduring tradition as I have found it over the years, is that the children line up their shoes somewhere obvious (on the hearth or outside their bedroom doors or by the back door -- whatever works best!). In the morning on the feast of St. Nick, the children wake to find them filled with certain traditional goodies: either gold coins or oranges to symbolize the story of the dowry provided by the Bishop of Myra (St. Nicholas) for a poor family of several daughters; candy canes to symbolize St. Nicholas' Holy Orders as a Bishop of the Church; a holy card of St. Nicholas (see below), and then maybe a trinket, a new pair of socks, and perhaps another piece of chocolate or other sweets. If you haven't already made a simple shrine for St. Nicholas, just a printed picture off the internet will do fine, decorated appropriately with a candle nearby, perhaps, and some greenery. These little observations set off the day so nicely for the children's benefit (and our own!) and without a lot of fuss! This day should be a simple one to prepare for, not one that Mom has to stress about!

If the kids' shoes are just too gross... 😬😅 Or if you are having
a party, these St. Nicholas gift bags would be simple to put
together. The link for this photo is no longer available, but I think
they'd be pretty easy to figure out, right?

❅ If you're inclined to make sure this is clearly a Religious Feast Day and not just an excuse for candy, you'll surely want to make some of these! They're pretty simple. Maybe pour a glass of wine and have hubby help put a few together tonight after the kids go to bed! (Another tutorial here!) Only things needed: chocolate Santas (any variety), bit of gold pipe cleaner, red construction paper (doesn't have to be foil!). You can get fancy if you want, but, seriously, the kids don't care -- the fact that it's St. Nick and not Santa is the point. Except, of course, the point being that it's chocolate!

One wonders why they didn't choose a Santa/
St. Nick without the goofy eyes...

❅ If you can't find the little Santas and want something equally simple -- that can be wrapped around a standard candy bar, go here.

If anyone asks, I'll take a dark dark chocolate,
salted caramel, thank-you.

❅ Instructions for these super cool chocolate-covered 'croziers' can be found here. Only need melting chocolate and candy canes. 

If you have teenagers in your house, they might really enjoy helping make these!

❅ These chocolate "coins" do double duty at out house, showing up on the Feast of St. Nicholas -- and then again on the Feast of the Epiphany. Here's an easy way to make them fit the feast day this week! And another (with just the face of St. Nick.) Only need the coins themselves, which are pretty easy to find this time of year -- plus a printer with colored ink.

Aren't they especially classy?

The fact that he is a bishop may be more obvious on this one.

❅ This book can go with the gift of the coins (above). Perhaps a little late to get it this year, but maybe order one now to enjoy through Advent and pull out on the Feast of St. Nicholas next year. It explains the tradition of the coins. You can find it on Amazon. You can also find it on Thriftbooks and Abe books.

❅ A Grown-up book I want to get: The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas, by William J. Bennett (famously of The Book of Virtues, a great favorite of ours!) At Amazon. Thrift Books.  AbeBooks

❅ Neat St. Nicholas Day PDF printout of the story of St. Nicholas and how his day is celebrated throughout the world -- as well as some nice little gift tags here.

❅ My favorite blogger, Mary, over at Joyfully Domestic has a fabulous post with ideas, links, and awesome PDFs for St. Nicholas Day and Advent. Make sure and run over for some inspiration! I pretty much feel redundant posting anything after Mary has covered it!

❅ SO many scrumptious ideas for celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas edibly over at Catholic Cuisine! Go have a look! Plenty of recipes to choose from, simple to elaborate!

❅ A nice readable edition of the story of St. Nicholas for children can be found here. Maybe start the day with the real story of St. Nick before opening goodies -- or at night prayers.

❅ Ten Easy Crafts for the kids to do on St. Nicholas Day can be found here.

❅ The St. Nicholas Center has about a dozen beautifully traditional coloring pages to choose from for the feast of St. Nicholas!

❅ Best idea: I have heard of families using this feast day, in the spirit of St. Nicholas' charity to the poor, to bring gifts of canned goods, warm coats, gloves, scarves, hats, and socks. Socks are the least donated and the most needed donation at charitable centers! And so appropriate for this feast day! Maybe the best way to honor St. Nicholas on his day! Make sure the children are involved in buying and bringing the donations! They remember these kinds of things and wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone grew up with the true spirit of St. Nicholas a happy memory in their hearts and a burning ember in their souls?

❅ Holy Cards as promised: Here are some images of St. Nicholas if you don't have a Catholic gift store nearby. If you've got colored ink and card stock or photo paper, they're easy enough to make yourself. Just click, copy, save, and print

Interestingly enough, this icon is actually modeled
after the real St. Nicholas! See link below.

My favorite. Isn't this lovely?

❅ We actually do have a pretty good idea of what the real St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, looked like! Follow this link to see!

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