Back when the kiddos were small, I was on a quest to find meaningful traditions to start with my young family. When I was growing up, my parents were great about helping my sister and I experience the true meaning of Christmas, and I wanted the same for my kids.
One idea I came across that I really liked was celebrating St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. The idea is that in lieu of Santa Claus, you teach the kids about St. Nicholas, the real man who lived in the fourth century. The stockings are filled to open on the 6th, and the day is made special with a nice breakfast, and family time. Then after St. Nicholas Day, the family turns their attention to the Nativity for the remainder of the Christmas season.
This year, for the first time EVER, we had a hearth to hang our stockings on! Yay! (This picture is from the night we decorated our tree. That was back when all the lights on the tree were working. Since then, about half the lights have shorted out, so our poor tree is not looking quite as lovely…)
Last year I hung them on a curtain rod, which works.
But is not as awesome as a hearth!
On St. Nicholas Day, we always begin with Dad reading the story of St. Nicholas. I printed out our copy, which lives in our Family Christmas Album (more on that later). I took information from a couple of different articles that I found on the internet and put them together to make our story.
Then we all have fun opening our stockings!
This year, St. Nicholas Day fell on Sunday, so we had to cut our family time short to get ready for church. Normally, after eating a special breakfast we play games or do puzzles together, watch a Christmas movie or two (for the last few years, this has been our designated day to watch, "A Christmas Story"), and generally hang out in our pjs for as long as possible.
Last year was Jackson's first St. Nicholas Day, and I found these super adorable pictures for you:
Jackson opening his stocking.
(He got a toothbrush, which he is trying to put into his mouth.)
Look at this cutie patootie!!!
Of course, he had no idea what was going on, but we had so much fun having Christmas with a baby in the house!
This year, he got the idea! It was great watching him discover this whole stocking thing. He digs it!
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