You may have noticed that I never got around to the promised description of our St. Martin celebration. Time got away from me and eventually so much time had passed that it just seemed rather silly to post about it. However, fear not, I will post about St. Nicholas and as it happens, the two celebrations are fairly similar, at least at our house.

Where we live, St. Martin is traditionally celebrated by the Protestant population and St. Nicholas by the Catholics. As I am a child of a mixed-denomination family (if that is what you call it) I was always in the lucky position to get treats on both days. And who am I to deny my kids the same advantage?
When the boys were still quite little, I made each of them a small burlap bag with a picture of St. Martin/St. Nick (they look fairly similar) on it.

I remember when I was little the Saint would come when it was dark, leave the treats and knock on the door. By the time I felt brave enough to open the door (both saints carry a switch to punish misbehaving children) he would of course be gone. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to figure out a way to surreptitiously get the treats outside in the bag and knock without the boys noticing. So for now, we do an easier (though somewhat less exciting) version: The boys hang the bags outside the door the night before and the bags are magically filled by morning time.

The typical treats are candy, apples and tangerines. However, I usually put in only a couple pieces of candy and add in some other presents. This year each of the boys received a small jigsaw puzzle and a Christmas-themed picture book.

B. received The Beautiful Christmas Tree and really liked it. It tells the story of a man who moves into a rundown house and who uses loving care to turn the building and a small whithered tree he plants into something special. It is neither too long nor too difficult for a three year old and the gentle story suits his personality.

J.’s book was The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. It tells of a gloomy woodcarver whose live has been bereft of joy since the death of his wife and child. It isn’t until a widow and her young son ask him to carve the figures for a manger scene that things change. When I first saw the book I felt a bit uncertain whether it would be right for my six-year old. The story is quite long and there is enough tragedy in the backstory that I feared J. might not care for it. However, I couldn’t have been more mistaken. He absolutely loves it. And I am truly astonished by J’s understanding of the more complex/less obvious aspects of the story. All in all, I would say this year’s St. Nicholas’ books were a big success.

Another family tradition is to make a gingerbread house on St. Nicholas. We did get one started but it isn’t finished yet. Like all great constructions it will take a while. However, today we have assembled the walls so all that is left to do is decorate it (which is of course the most important part). Hopefully, we will get to that tomorrow and I will post a picture of our creation (before the boys start sneaking the candy).