Thoughts for Thursday: Old Saint Nick.....

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!!

Does anyone know what I am talking about?? Click above link.

Celebration in the United States (from Wikipedia)

While feasts of Saint Nicholas are not observed nationally, cities with strong German influences like Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and St. Louis celebrate St. Nick's Day on a scale similar to the German custom.^[5] On the previous night, children put one empty shoe (or sock) outside, and, on the following morning of December 6, the children awake to find that St. Nick has filled their previously empty footwear with candy and small presents (if the children have been "good") or ostensibly, coal (if not). For these children, the relationship between St. Nick and Santa Claus is not clearly defined, although St. Nick is usually explained to be a helper of Santa. The tradition of St. Nick's Day is firmly established in the Milwaukee and St. Louis communities, with parents often continuing to observe the day with even their adult children.

When my brothers and I were kids, Old St. Nick came to our house every December 6th.  We would put our boots out on the front porch and later in the evening we would hear the doorbell ring and when we opened the door, nobody would be there, but our boots would be filled with candy!!  It was a very fun tradition, one I miss.

I think this may be one of my only connections to my German heritage, sad as that is.  I didn't even realize this was a German thing to do in the U.S until I just looked it up.

Just curious if anyone else celebrates this or not?

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Other TFT posts this week:

Michelle on stay-at-home-mom vs working mom

Denise on bratty kids and babysitting nightmares

Zoe on how old is too old
 

Comments

[RobynD]

I have about a fourth German and we never celebrated St. Nick's. My parents were from the Milwaukee area. I never heard of it until I was in college and my roommate said something about it and she was Dutch and my stepson's mother and her family celebrate it also and they are Dutch, so I thought it was a Dutch thing. I'm sure it transcends through cultures though.

[michelle]

We always celebrated St. Nick's as a kid. But, we just got something small in our stocking. I doubt we did it right, nor did we do it for the right reason, but yes, we did it. Maybe it's a MN thing... Who knows. I haven't given it much thought as of late and totally forgot about it until you mentioned it. Maybe we'll do this as the kids get older. It's something to add to the holidays.

[Jessica]

I did grow up in Milwaukee, and we celebrated this traditon every single year, except we would just get a stocking full of candy, and maybe one small present from St. Nick. I do remember just about everyone in school talking about it, except for one kid. My DH and I do not celebrate it now, and I don't know if we will for our kids. I think it is a very cute idea, but who needs more candy hanging around--?