St. Nicholas Day is tomorrow, December 6th!  That day is the birthday of the real Santa Claus.  For more information on St. Nicholas, and ways to celebrate the day, go to this beautiful website:  http://www.StNicholasCenter.org .

We will celebrate by making spice cookies from a recipe on the above site, waking to full stockings that were left by someone during the night, who gave in the spirit of St. Nicholas' generosity.  We'll read a story of St. Nicholas (the real Santa Claus), and most importantly, doing something for others.  For the latter, we will make up a tin of Christmas goodies for our neighbors, make Christmas cards, and donate some extra toys to the nearest charity. 

Do any of you celebrate St. Nicholas Day as an alternative to Santa Claus at Christmas?  I'm fairly new to this - only a couple of years ago, I didn't know that Santa Claus was truly a real person at one point who had been significantly changed over time.  As I learned about St. Nicholas, I decided to celebrate St. Nicholas Day as an extension of the holidays, but more importantly, as a way to get the kids to think of others during the season, and not just of the gifts they will receive.  On St. Nicholas Day, our goal is to give in the spirit of the real Santa Claus, who gave freely all that he owned.

by Lori Seaborg 2006

Posted by EEEEMommy

We lived in Berlin, E Germany when I was younger and brought back the tradition of St. Nicholas Day with us. (Many Europeans celebrate the day). It has been an ideal time for us to put all the Santa stuff that surrounds us in its proper context and celebrate the life of a pastor who loved God, was generous, and is now in heaven with Jesus. Then the rest of the month we can focus on Jesus' upcoming birthday. St. Nicholas Day is one of my favorite holidays of the year! I posted pictures of our shoes yesterday.

Posted by homeschoolhighlites

Hi, my sister lived in Switzerland for 7 years and her 1st two kids were born there. They have this tradtion there too where you put out your shoes for Santa. Sounds Fun.

This is my 1st visit to your blog. I hope to stop back when I have more time to read. :-)

~Amy