Döner Kebab

Nikolaustag

Happy Nikolaustag!

We started the day as we start every St. Nick’s Day…with stockings. The children always receive a new ornament, and this year, the ornaments came from our trip to Disney World. I had such a fun time picking them out at Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe the Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square back in June!

We always decorate the tree on December 6th…in addition to our Mickey Ears ornaments (and the final installation of the “12 Days of Christmas”), we also added an ornament made from marble from the steps of the US Capitol that we picked up when we toured the building over the summer:

For dinner, as I did last year, I made Döner Kebab. One more year, and it will be a full-fledged tradition!

For dessert, I stuck with the Disney theme and made Mini Gingerbread Bundt Cakes with Orange-Vanilla Sauce from a recipe on the Disney Parks Blog:

We always have wassail on Nikolaustag, too:

Now I feel like the Christmas season has really begun!

A New Tradition for Nikolaustag?

I think we may have started a new tradition for Nikolaustag!

A few weeks ago, I tried making a recipe from Döner Kebab from Dirndl Kitchen. I’ve been looking for more recipes that celebrate our German heritage, and this particular one stood out to me because it has some things in common with shawarma, which we all love. The funny thing about Döner Kebab, though, is that while it is extremely popular in Germany as a fast food, its roots are in Turkey. And then it struck me how much like St. Nicholas that is. He lived and worked in what is modern-day Turkey, but his commemoration date, and particularly his persona as St. Nick, giver of presents, is popular especially in Germany. So I decided that even though it’s a decent amount of work to make homemade Pide, garlic sauce, pickled cabbage, and marinated chicken all on a busy Monday, it would be the perfect meal for Nikolaustag. And it was! It’s already become a family-favorite meal, but I think the connection to where Nicholas of Myra actually lived, and where he is celebrated, especially as connected to our family’s heritage, makes it an extra-special Advent meal, and I hope it becomes a regular part of our St. Nick’s Day traditions!