Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Ack! I have been terrible at posting lately. Seriously. Thanksgiving brought travel, family and vomiting to our lives so I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and write. Recap of all that soon, I promise.

For now though, Happy St. Nicholas Day!

If you aren't sure of exactly what the deal is with St. Nicholas Day, ask Google. Google knows all.

For my family, it was always just sort of a pre-Christmas day of fun. Both of my parents went to Catholic school as kids and St. Nicholas, being a saint and all, was kind of a big deal there. When my folks had kids, they decided to continue the tradition, just at home... with fewer nuns... and mass... and whacking rulers... and frightening-ness.

The night of the 5th, we would leave food outside for St.Nicholas' horses and some cookies for the man himself and set our shoes out in anticipation. In the morning we would wake to find a present, usually candy or an ornament, or we would find coal.

Yep, legit, we got coal a couple of times. Ma thought it was a funny trick. It wasn't. After the tears she would eventually cave and show us where St. Nick had hidden our "real" gifts. Terrible. Ma learned to have real gifts handy after the year she gave my siblings rulers only to have one thrown at her in a fit of childhood rage.

The hubs and I have continued to carry on our own tradition each December 6th. In 2007, he even put a little box in my shoe with a sparkly ring and popped the question! Little Bear has gotten something from St. Nicholas the past two years but this was the first year that he had any idea that something was happening.

Last night we spent time prepping a horsey snack and writing a letter to St. Nicholas. Little Bear had a very important message that he wanted me to write...

We awoke this morning to a wonderful surprise!

Yippee!

So there you have it, Happy St. Nicholas Day everybody!