Friday, December 5, 2014

Tonight is the Night


Tonight is an exciting night in our home...shoes will be left by the door, and St. Nicholas will come upon his snow white horse and leave a little something in our shoes. A few cookies and a cup of tea will be left for St. Nicholas, and a carrot for his horse. Tomorrow morning, with much excitement, Reece will run to the front door to see just what St. Nicholas has left for him.

Throughout the week we have been reading, and discussing St. Nicholas, we have sorted through some of Reece's toys and packed them in a bag for St. Nicholas to take with him to share with other children, we will shop today for socks to donate to the homeless shelter in the spirit of St. Nicholas, and tomorrow we will celebrate St. Nicholas Day.

I have wrote a little this week about our family traditions this time of year, and how we have slowly added things over the last six years to create a holiday season that is right for our family. When Reece was born, Justin and I both knew we would forgo the idea of Santa Claus for various reasons, including the commercialism around the holiday, the lack of connection we both felt to the idea of Santa Claus, and our desire to slow down this time of year and really soak up the season, but we also knew we still wanted all the magic that comes with this festive season. For the first three years our celebrations were simple, Reece was young and had not been introduced to the normal seasonal traditions, and we took our time deciding what traditions we wanted to bring to our family so we could make mindful decisions about how we would approach the season. Over those first three years we enjoyed the holiday season, celebrated with my family on Christmas Day, and overall, just kept things pretty simple. Three years ago, with Reece growing, we felt the time was right to begin to include some Waldorf festivals in our year, and St. Nicholas Day seemed like a wonderful place to start. This day allows us a little of the magic that comes with this time of year, but still keeps things low key and simple. Slowly over the years the excitement for this day has increased, and Reece, as well as Justin and I, has really enjoyed this festival. As with all things, we keep it simple, he will find a new Christmas book, a candy cane, a few dark chocolates, some nuts, a clementine and two new wooden animals...dinosaurs, by his shoes tomorrow morning.

Celebrating in this way fits perfectly with our little family and our desire to live slowly and simply. It also allows us to really focus on the meaning of Christmas, which for us is time with family, and the celebration of the greatest gift, the Christ Child.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

38 comments:

  1. Happy St Nicholas Day to you too :) I love the tales of St Nicholas, especially the one that inspires Christmas stockings, and while our stockings will be out on Christmas Eve I'm looking forward to reading the stories to them today

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  2. I love how your are celebrating "Nikolaus" (German spelling :-)) day. I remember celebrating it as a child growing up in Germany and have some very happy memories.

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    1. Thank you. I sure hope Reece remembers all this with fondness in the years to come.

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  3. Happy St. Nicholas Day Kim. I still have my Alex put his shoes by the door, even if he is a teenager. I have a feeling when Alex leaves for college I will be making my Mike leave his shoe! I love St. Nicholas Day :)

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    1. Thank you Tracey. I hope Reece will still want to do that when he is a teenager :)

      Haha, that will be so much fun for you and Mike :)

      Wishing you a lovely St. Nicholas Day. xo

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  4. We are so excited for tonight, too! We just adore this tradition and how sweet and simple it is! We've been talking about Saint Nicholas all week as well and doing things in honor of him (food to the food pantry, cookies left anonymously for neighbors, etc). Have a wonderful Saint Nicholas Day! xo

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    1. Sounds lovely Shel. Enjoy your St. Nicholas Day. xo

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  5. my mom used to give us lots of fun stuff in our shoes that we left beside the bed :) Lovely traditions that you have celebrated with your son.

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  6. How wonderful! We do a little mix of it all, with the biggest emphasis on the 'magic' of the season, rather than gifts. My kiddies attend school so it can be challenging finding a balance of what we feel is appropriate and what they hear about at school :(. My kiddies will be leaving their boots out for St. Nicholas as well - they will be filled with a couple of new shiny loonies, gem stones (to add to the first light of advent) and a Christmas book. I love your idea of leaving out a bag of toys/items for St. Nicholas to take to other children. I think I am going to steal that idea :)

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    1. Thanks Carrie. I am sure the whole school thing can be challenging, one piece I am happy we don't have to deal with.

      Steal away. It is such a good way to help clear out some clutter, and pass along some gently used toys.

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  7. You have given us so many great ideas. Without putting much stock into it we just went along with the normal Santa and Christmas thing, but last year- kaleb and I were miserable, it want for us. We were desperately looking for a change something that fit our family and lifestyle a little better. We read up on St. Nick, and did a bug talk with the kids about Santa yesterday, they surprised but not being sad about Santa at all, just excited for new traditions. They can't wait to leave shoes out tonight! And I found a perfect little gnome that I already had and started the scrolls this morning- they were beyond excited! Anyway- if you have more- would love to know what you do on the actual day and a big thank you for helping shape this Christmas into the best yet!

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    1. That is so wonderful to hear. I am happy you are making new traditions that feel like a better fit for your family.

      That makes me so happy that they were excited about the gnome, just lovely!

      Christmas Day is pretty simple for us. We enjoy our breakfast, and then open the few presents that are under the tree. Reece will have a stocking, and two gifts under the tree from us. He will also have a gift from his Godparents. Justin and I don't exchange gifts, but do a stocking for each other. After that we bundle up and head out for a hike in the woods. We spend the afternoon at my parents place, an early dinner and then opening presents from my parents. Justin's parents don't celebrate so we don't have to worry about the split time at each family. We are usually back at home by 6:30pm, and we settle in for a quiet night in front of the fire. Pretty simple...it is the way we roll around here.

      You are very welcome my friend. Happy to know these posts have helped you start some new traditions. Enjoy the season! xo

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  8. You have a beautiful tradition for St Nicholas day. I especially love the idea of leaving a bag of old toys for him to take to less fortunate children. I think I will borrow this for our family too. For us, St. Nicholas usually leaves a coin (usually a toonie), a treat (either a juice box or perhaps some a fruit snack) and a piece of fruit or nuts for each child. We started last year and they just loved it. There's something about St Nicholas that just segues so nicely into the Nativity. :) Thanks for sharing your traditions, and hope you have a happy feast day!

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    1. Thank you Alexa. Go ahead and borrow it, it is good for all involved :)

      That is a lovely way to celebrate, and I agree with you, it is a really beautiful fit. Wishing you guys a lovely day tomorrow too. xo

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  9. here in the south of France, Saint Nicholas is not a celebration, not traditional... so I did not know him in my childhood... I'm really interested... have a nice evening!

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    1. It is not traditional here either, although many of us do celebrate it :)

      I bet your kiddos would love it! Enjoy your weekend.

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  10. Beautiful post Kim! Reese's childhood is being filled with the most wonderful traditions.
    We took a St Nicholas book out of the library this week but the story in this particular edition was quite gruesome. It ended well with the coming of St Nicholas and the children leaving their shoes in front of the fire etc. Next year I will look around for a different version.
    Have you read 'Hundred Dollar Holiday'? I like to read it at the beginning of each christmas season.

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    1. Thank you Emma.

      I have not read that one, I will check it out though, thanks for the recommendation. Hope you are well. xo

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  11. Lovely tradition. I grew up with Saint Nicholas instead of Santa Clause and am passing the tradition on along to my son as well. We like the separation of Christmas and "Santa". We like that it is less gimmicky, and about giving instead of receiving. The main difference in our family is that we were taught that someone "In the spirit of Saint Nicholas, who loves you very much" is the person who leaves gifts on Saint Nicholas Day. Little things like special pens or pencils for school, holiday socks, chocolate, and apple and an orange were left, but they were much coveted and looked forward to year after year.

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    1. Thank you. That is wonderful, and love that you are passing on the tradition. Yes, to all of those things :)

      I like that idea of someone in the spirit of St. Nicholas...thanks for sharing that.

      Enjoy the day tomorrow. xo

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  12. Kim I love your ideas! You and Justin are bringing Reece up with a beautiful grounded childhood. He is a very lucky boy. Lots of love to you all xo

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    1. Thank you Julie, it means a lot to hear you say that. Big hugs and much love to you. xo

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  13. Lovely tradition, Happy St Nicholas day to you all.

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  14. Sounds like it will be very lovely! I like that you also have him give in return. I think that makes for a very nice compliment to receiving gifts.

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    1. I am sure it will be :) It definitely does, and it feels just right for us.

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  15. I think maybe my comments are being eating up...but if not..just delete. This is the tradition I have been keeping up with the children. We combined the Swiss tradition of getting a visit from St. Nick who gives you a burlap sack of mixed nuts, clementines, and chocolates, with the American tradition of stockings..now we do stockings on the 6th. Such fun!

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    1. They might have been, this is the only one I got :)

      Happy St. Nicholas Day Elisa, hope you guys enjoyed it! Hope you are well. xo

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  16. What a lovely tradition! My kids know who Santa Clause is...we even leave out milk and cookies...but we spend most of our time focusing on the Nativity. I have told my kids the story of St Nicholas several times but am now inspired to learn more....

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    1. Thanks Alyssa. Sounds like you have some nice traditions of your own. Enjoy learning more about St. Nicholas.

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  17. A bit behind here on my blog life--so I am doing a little catching up.

    Thanks for sharing, and as I have come to expect a bit ;) it sounds very familiar to our journey. Although after my St Nicholas post there has been a lot of discussion among our fellow Waldorf parents about Santa Claus and I am feeling a change of heart coming on, which I did not expect. We'll see how it evolves and I'll be sure to post about it.

    I love the idea of sorting through toys to send along with St Nicholas. I feel Mattheus is just beginning to be able to grasp the generosity of this season in a more conscious way. In other words, creating some of these activities around us instead of just allowing him to imitate our own inner gestures of generosity, if that makes sense. He is a very dreamy fellow, and I wanted him to be able to awaken to this impulse within himself before we started acting upon them. I see a twinkle of it and am collecting ideas for next year. This is an excellent little simple one that I think we will use!

    Your holding of simplicity is so inspiring. More and more I am realizing just how simple things need to be for these little ones. Their teacher phrased it as experiences being appropriate "when they are digestible." And this has really helped me come round to the point of view of these little ones who thrive so well on one simple image. As adults we can enjoy and process so much more than they can and we want to give it all to them. But the magic of the season is captured in this one image, if we bring it correctly.

    Thank you for continuing to inspire more in the direction of simplicity!

    Hope you three had a wonderful magical day yesterday.

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    1. Looking forward to hearing more about your discussion, and maybe your change of heart. I think what I miss the most about homeschooling is the community of like minded parents we might find at a Waldorf school. Those who share a similar path, and can bring different perspectives to this path we walk. Alas, we are too far from a school, so it isn't in the cards, but I am happy to have found some like minded blog friends, you included, who I can chat with and learn from.

      The toy thing is something new this year, and it worked out very well. We have been including Reece in the community service we do for the last few years, not in a big way, but just in him being present when we share and give. This is the first year I feel he actually understands that we are giving to someone and why. It is interesting to watch it all unfold.

      I love what their teacher said, it really makes so much sense, not only with this season but with life in general. Our little ones don't have the ability to take in as much as we do, and they certainly don't have the experience we have, they just need the simplest of things, in the simplest of ways to grow and thrive.

      Thank you for your kind words. They mean a lot.

      We did, we had a little change in plans, but it all worked out and the day was well enjoyed, and even included a little time in the woods, our favourite spot to be :)

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  18. You've just brought back so many memories for me! I lived in France for 5 years and I still remember putting out shoes for St. Nicholas.
    Reading this warms my heart as I know you're creating such wonderful memories for Reece. I really like that your defining your own traditions and path instead of flowing the mainstream. We're still trying to find a rhythm with it all. Last year we drove 10 hours north to the city to celebrate the holiday with family but it felt very rushed, hectic, commercialized and out of place for us. This year we're staying in the mountains for an more quiet and grounded celebration. Happy Holidays to you Kim, I received your card yesterday. Thank you very much x

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    1. Oh that is wonderful to hear Isis. We are trying. It took some thought, and I am so glad we took those first few years to figure it all out. Looking back now there isn't anything I would change about the path to get us here, it all feels so right.

      Your holiday this year sounds just lovely, enjoy it, and soak up the wonderful, magical time with that beautiful family of yours.

      You are very welcome, happy to hear it reached you. xo

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