St. Nicholas Day
Do you remember the holiday stories your parents used to read to you when you were very little? One that I remember involved St. Nicholas delivering treats to children while they were asleep. He wasn’t the customary St. Nick we knew of in the United States. This St. Nicholas was different. He left treats in kids’ shoes, and he didn’t visit the United States. (Or at least he never visited anyone I knew.)
So this year we’re living in Europe… and I’m thinking of that old story… and asking Martin if he thinks St. Nicholas would visit us even if we are a *tad* older than most of the Germans on St. Nicholas’s list.
Martin gave the thumbs up. He even offered to stay up all night to see how St. Nicholas could get into our house. (We read and read about the holiday and never figured that part out. Chimney? Door? Window? Hmmm.)
I rolled my eyes. ”You can stay up,” I told Martin. ”But you’ll never see St. Nicholas. Don’t you know? Only the family cat sees him.”
(That’s me quoting my childhood book.)
We put our shoes next to the door and hoped for the best since we didn’t have a cat to tell us what to do. And guess what!
St. Nicholas came. He does exist in Europe!
We woke up on Sunday (December 6th) to find pouches poking out of our shoes and stuffed with treats. We hauled our baggies right to the kitchen table for inspection.
We received chocolates, handmade wooden ornaments, and little fruits called lychees in our (IKEA fabric) bags. I honestly didn’t know chocolate santas could taste good. Thank you, St. Nicholas.
Has St. Nicholas ever visited your house? Any hints about how he gets into our house? Or were we supposed to leave our shoes outside? We’re quite the newbies at this, so please share. (Just please don’t ask me to share my chocolate santa. Because I can’t.)
December 7th, 2009 at 6:39 am
So sweet! And I bet he walks right through walls. Invisible magic like that!
December 7th, 2009 at 7:01 am
how do you eat lychees? I’m so curious…!
December 7th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Such a cute post! And I’m actually wondering how we’ll tell our kids (someday, because we don’t have any little ones yet) how Santa will get into our house. We have no chimney! But, again — love it :) Enjoy the chocolate!!!
December 7th, 2009 at 8:13 am
St. Nicholas came to my house! I forgot to leave my shoes out though, so I didn’t get any treats. My husband left his shoes out without knowing about the holiday and he was rewarded with a treat! St. Nicholas brought him 2 candy canes (one to share with me), homemade soap, and an orange. I guess St. Nicholas figured that we were eating chocolate from the advent calendar, so we didn’t get any chocolate (bummer).
Next year I will remember to put out my shoes that that I may be rewarded as well.
December 7th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Yes, St. Nicholas visits our house. My kids leave their shoes outside their bedroom doors and in the morning they are filled with candy. St. Nicholas even brought some Lindt chocolate all the way from Germany. I know how St. Nicholas gets in, I’m just not telling.
December 7th, 2009 at 8:40 am
That is awesome! I want to start doing this!
December 7th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Bishop Nikolaus knocks on the door in the evening of Dec 6th.
He is let in and he is accompagnied by Knecht Ruprecht.
Knecht Ruprecht is a bearded man who carries a bag with presents and a birch-rod.
The children have to tell a poem and Bishop Nikolaus looks up in his book whether the child behaved well during the last year.
Then the child is either given a present (an apple or an orange) or Knecht Ruprecht punishes it with the rod.
Some families really do have those two persons coming to their home. As a child, me and my cousins were looking forward to their visit. Of course we were never punished.
I was 2 and a half years old when I learned this poem by heart (I still love it dearly):
http://www.deingedicht.de/Weihnachten/Gedichte/(wg002)Knecht%20Ruprecht.htm
Bishop Nikolaus and Knecht Ruprecht: http://www.gaisental-grundschule.de/images/Nikolaus07_002.jpg
December 7th, 2009 at 11:06 am
My cousin-in-law, Ingrid, celebrates St. Nicholas at their house. All the shoes go under the tree and St. Nicholas leaves oranges and treats in them!
December 7th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I think St. Nikolaus has a “magic key”. :-) But we actually just left our shoes outside the door and he left the treats outside. Laura in Ludwigsburg
December 7th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I don’t know about the German St Nicolaas, but in the Netherlands it is not St Nicolaas who comes in the house! He is an old men and not so fast anymore. He has lots of helpers called Black Peter and they do the delivering of sweets and treats. They use the chimney if there is one (that is why they are black, it is from the soot), but since a lot of houses don’t have chimneys anymore they have found a secret way to get through the door. They are not telling how they do that.
December 7th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I forgot all about St. Nicholas! Yes he used to come to our house and leave fun little treats in our shoes. I can’t wait to do this to my children someday.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Oh yes, Nikolaus comes to our house every year but we hang hand-made stockings up on our little electric fireplace instead of putting shoes or boots outside the door. No idea how he gets in, but he does!
December 8th, 2009 at 3:52 am
After reading your blog yesterday morning I went to the hospital to visit my hubby (knee replacement surgery). The hospital is in a small Indiana town with a strong German heritage. He showed me a baggie with a decorated cookie and the story of St. Nicholas. I guess St. Nicholas took pitty on those who couldn’t reach their shoes and left their treats on the supper tray! I learned the story of St. Nicholas twice in one morning, pretty cool! (My shoes were empty. I hope it’s because they weren’t put outside in the snow, not because I was a bad girl!) Love reading your blog and the adventures you take us on. Thanks!
December 8th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Thanks for all the tips and bits about St. Nick at your houses. I’m seriously cracking up by all the “We can’t tell” responses about exactly how the fella gets into our houses… even if you still leave me TOTALLY NOT KNOWING THE ANSWER.
I’ll have to stay up late next year and see for myself.
Katie
December 8th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Sabine, thank you for the awesome links! What perfect practice for my patchy German.
Sandy, your story is so very sweet yesterday. Thank you for that.
Katie
December 8th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
OK, so I have to know. Who put the little bag inside the shoes? Did you do it for each other, or was it a total shock to find something in your shoes? Here’s what I found when I googled St. Nicholas Day in Germany:
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=87
December 10th, 2009 at 7:53 am
I’m a little behind in my readings of your blog due to work, but hey it’s a snow day here in Holland, Michigan….and I’m so taking in your blog site this morning.
When I was 4 we lived in Fischbach, Germany for 3 years before heading back to the states.
While there, that first December Christmas….I clearly remember my parent’s landlord family introducing us to the custom of “Christkindl”…..it’s the very same tradition as your St. Nick. My parents kept this alive for all of our growing up years! It was the most exciting holiday for us kids, besides Christmas Day itself!
Now living in Holland, Michigan with teaching at a school…..each year, it’s still so exciting for me to see our 2nd graders make and design their construction brown paper clogs to set out for St. Nick to fill!
December 11th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Gosh, I can’t believe I completely missed this the other day. :( My mom was born in the Netherlands so it was always tradition for us as kids. It is definitely something we’ll celebrate when we have kids of our own.