Winter Holidays

Shoe Candy?? 🍬🍬🍬🍬

Be honest, anyone having their kids put their shoes out tomorrow night (Dec. 5th)?  December 5th is St. Nicholas Eve, a German custom, although I don't think Germany is the only country that celebrates this custom. I am Italian and my children's father is German.  I am not sure when it happened, but sometime when my oldest was about 12 years old I found out about this holiday.  Since I don't know much about German customs and don't cook German food I thought this would be a nice custom to start especially as the Christmas Tree came from Germany we might a well add St. Nicholas day.  I think that I also thought this was an important holiday as I found out around that time that St. Nicholas was a real person!  He helped people who were behind in their taxes and were about to get their daughters taken away by a tax collector by throwing money down their chimney.  I think he was a pretty cool dude. Oh, you fill your kiddos shoe with candy before he or she wakes up on December 6th.  I am sure you could put your shoe out too!

Can you spot the pickle?

My mother, an Italian, somehow found out that hiding a pickle on a Christmas tree is a German tradition and the first person to spot it on Christmas morning gets to open the first gift.  She bought my kids a pickle ornament and they love to use it.  One Christmas we went to my German in-laws home for Christmas and mentioned the German pickle hiding custom. Apparently they had never heard of it and didn't seem to think it was a German custom.  To appease my children, they decide to hide a fresh dill pickle slice (I don't recommend this, smelly, messy and fragile).   My kids did not seemed phase that it might not be a German custom and still hide the pickle their Italian grandmother got them and enjoy fighting over who gets to open their gift first.

Now that the kids are older, some married, we try different customs each year.  One year we picked names, another year we played dirty Santa which is like a white elephant gift exchange they use to do when I was a kid.  You get a gently used or new gift for a specific dollar amount, we chose under $10 and then you draw numbers to see who goes first.  Now you might think you are lucky to get a low number and pick a fantastic gift, until the next person steals it from you.  A gift can be stolen 2 times (total of 3 owners) before that person gets to keep the gift, it is pretty fun. 

I would love to hear about your winter holiday.  Please post a comment.  If your kids put out your shoes tell us what you filled them with.  If you decide to start St. Nicholas Day this year, did your kids have fun?  If you celebrate another holiday other than Christmas, post and tell us.  Please let us know what country your celebration originated from.