St. Nicholas Day

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day in Germany, when St. Nicholas comes and gives the children a small present. Lucky for us, some friends from the playground invited us over to share in this German tradition.

On St. Nicholas Day you first put out a plate full of cookies and some veggies for the reindeer, and then they gather all the kids together to wait for St. Nicholas.



We tried to prepare SJ for St. Nicholas by coaching her for a full day that St. Nicholas was coming, and that she didn't need to be afraid of him. But, unfortunately, it was of little use. SJ was terrified of St. Nicholas - and did her usual "If I look away and pretend I don't see him, maybe he won't see me" routine.

When St. Nicholas comes, he reads from his list and tells the children what they've been good at from the previous year, and what they need to work on for the coming year. I thought that was an interesting tradition, and I am going to suggest for my next year end performance review that the partner wear a St. Nicholas suit - it makes the whole thing more fun.



After St. Nicholas reads over the list of plusses and minuses, he gives the children each a small present. Kind of like the year-end bonus.



Afterwards, we were invited to stay for dinner and a challenging game of Settlers of Catan. I don't think we've played since SJ was born, so it was great to play again.