Saint Nicholas

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!

A Markel Family St. Nicholas Day

Time for another installment of “A Markel Family Holiday!” St. Nicholas Day has always been one of favorite days in Advent, so I thought I’d share what we do to make it special.

The day always begins with stockings. We keep it simple…chocolate coins, oranges, and a new ornament for each child to hang on the tree. They’ve each received an ornament every year since their births, so they will have a nice collection to start their own trees when they have homes of their own someday!

We always read Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend from CPH. It’s a fantastic book!

And of course we do our Jesse Tree reading for the day. This year, the commemoration for St. Nicholas fell on the day we read about Jacob:

In the afternoon, we decorate the tree. I put it up and hung the lights almost a month ago, but we always wait for St. Nicholas Day for the addition of the ornaments.

We enjoy hot wassail while we decorate:

Some years, I make a special dinner. This year, we tried a Turkish fish stew and flat bread, to honor the area of the world from which St. Nicholas comes.

And of course we have evening prayers by the light of the Advent wreath.

I really love this holiday, and the special ways we celebrate it!

Chickadee Thursday

The children can count on getting three things in their stockings on Saint Nicholas Day every year…an orange, chocolate coins, and a new ornament to add to their collection. This year, I picked up ornaments from Germany when we visited the Christkindlmarket in Naperville, and Chickadee was very excited to hang her new snowman ornament on the tree this morning!

Advent with Little Luther

A reformer, a bishop, and an angel gather under a Jesse Tree…sounds like the beginning of a very strange Advent joke…

We’ve had some fun with Little Luther this year, and I figured Advent should be no different:

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I got him a few seasonally appropriate Playmobil friends (I have to imagine Luther would have enjoyed spending time with a heretic-slapper!), and they’re all hanging out under our Jesse Tree. Just a little Lutheran fun in our Advent season!

A French Colonial Christmas

Today, after celebrating Christmas in Italy on The Hill, we traveled to the Jarrot Mansion in Cahokia to celebrate a French colonial Christmas. The house was decorated in a simple, but beautiful style:

There was a musician playing the hammered dulcimer, which really added to the festive spirit!

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And, instead of a typical American Santa, they had Saint Nicholas, also the precursor to the French Père Noël, visiting with people.

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This was a unique, and still very St. Louis, way to celebrate Christmas!

December 6–Nicholas of Myra, Pastor

From the LCMS website:

Of the many saints commemorated by the Christian Church, Nicholas (d. A.D. 342) is one of the best known. Very little is known historically of him, although there was a church of Saint Nicholas in Constantinople as early as the sixth century. Research has affirmed that there was a bishop by the name of Nicholas in the city of Myra in Lycia (part of Turkey today) in the fourth century. From that coastal location, legends about Nicholas have traveled throughout time and space. He is associated with charitable giving in many countries around the world and is portrayed as the rescuer of sailors, the protector of children, and the friend of people in distress or need. In commemoration of “Sinte Klaas” (Dutch for Saint Nicholas, in English “Santa Claus”), December 6 is a day for giving and receiving gifts in many parts of Europe.

December 6–Nicholas of Myra, Pastor

From the LCMS website:

Of the many saints commemorated by the Christian Church, Nicholas (d. A.D. 342) is one of the best known. Very little is known historically of him, although there was a church of Saint Nicholas in Constantinople as early as the sixth century. Research has affirmed that there was a bishop by the name of Nicholas in the city of Myra in Lycia (part of Turkey today) in the fourth century. From that coastal location, legends about Nicholas have traveled throughout time and space. He is associated with charitable giving in many countries around the world and is portrayed as the rescuer of sailors, the protector of children, and the friend of people in distress or need. In commemoration of “Sinte Klaas” (Dutch for Saint Nicholas, in English “Santa Claus”), December 6 is a day for giving and receiving gifts in many parts of Europe. 

Christmas School–Day Six

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

While we may not do the whole Santa thing, we do recognize Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, on this day of his commemoration. We started the day with a few small gifts in the children’s stocking–an orange, some candies, an ornament, and the gifts Turkey and Bunny purchased for their siblings at the Dollar Spot at Target. They, of course, thought this was great fun!

Once school began, we read Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend, which is an excellent book from CPH. As the title suggests, this book tells the story of the actual St. Nicholas, (or at least as much of it as we know), as opposed to the normal Santa stories we hear at this time of year. This story illustrates the faith and generosity of Nicholas of Myra, as well as reminds us that we should be practicing that same generosity (and not only at Christmas!), because of the generosity God shows to us in the gifts He gives us.

We then read another version of this same story in The Kingfisher Book of Classic Christmas Stories. This time, however, we read a Dutch legend, instead of a biographical story, and there were some glaring differences. It is much easier to see where our Santa mythology comes from when reading this particular version–According to the Dutch, St. Nicholas stood on rooftops, and tossed coins down chimneys, which then landed in stockings. It was fun to compare and contrast the two stories, even if this one veered pretty far from the truth.

We also watched the Veggie Tales DVD, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving. This was, naturally, mostly just for fun, (who doesn’t love Veggie Tales?), but there was some historical information in this recording. I will admit, however, you really have to look for it–this particular story takes some real liberties with the life of Nicholas, especially as it tries to morph his story into the Santa mythos. In spite of that, it does once again capture the spirit of generosity, which is always a good lesson for children to learn, and hear over and over. I would suggest that it’s a good idea to talk about this one with the children, to make sure that they understand the difference between the fact and fiction in this video.

Today’s craft project was a “Handprint Wreath.” Now, I realize that this had nothing to do with St. Nicholas, but it was a lot of fun, and I’m a sucker for handprint crafts. Plus, it looks really cute!