st nicholas day is almost here!

[mtemm]

my kids are sooo excited to put their shoes out. anyone else celebrate? what does st. nicholas usually leave?

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

my kids are sooo excited to put their shoes out. anyone else celebrate? what does st. nicholas usually leave?

[he generally leaves me birthday presents...]

But my students, who are of German decent, receive a piece of fruit and some chocolate and maybe a trinket or two. Nothing big.

 

[NHdisneylover]

DH's family is German so we celebrated even before we moved here. The shoes are filled with candy, oranges and nuts plus one small trinket. It is a fun little part of the holidays for sure.

 

[minniebeth]

We celebrate! At my girls' school, St. Nick (the real one of course) rides on a horse by all the classrooms and while the kids are watching out the windows for him, their shoes are outside in the hall being filled with a candy cane.

At home we fill their shoes with candy canes, and a few candies like gum, chocolate, tic tacs, etc.

I have friends that give small gifts, but we just stick with candy.

A fun day!

 

[sksjasams]

Yes, we celebrate it. My DS leaves his slippers outside his bedroom door. He will be getting a snuggie and some gold chocolate coins.

 

[Liberty Belle]

We celebrated it one year. My sister in law was on a heritage kick and since my husband is of Dutch descent, she decided we'd do it up. It was fun, but we didn't do it again.

 

[design_mom]

We did it every year growing up. Both at home and at (Catholic) school.

My kids leave their shoes out, too. This year they're each getting a clementine (mandarin orange), a candy bar, and a small Club Penguin stuffed penguin. We don't usually do toys, but I got a great deal on the penguins.

At my DH's house, St. Nicholas filled their stockings on St. Nicholas day. They did not leave their shoes out on St. Nicholas day...nor did Santa fill stockings at Christmas. (Funny how there are different traditions.)

 

[snowywhite89]

We never celebrated St. Nicholas Day when I was young but it does sound like a fun time.

Can I ask, do you really put the food into their shoes? Do you end up with smelly treats!

 

[kerstfan1]

we celebrated it here normaly on december 5th i dont like it but i have a nephew who is young so i have too

 

[mickeyboat]

This year St. Nick will bring a Wii game (cheap Black Friday one) for each kid and a Christmas movie, some candy and clementines. He usually brings some nuts for DH and a Christmas ornament for me.

We have been celebrating it in my family for generations.

When I grew up we always celebrated it on the evening of Dec. 6th, but I have read on the DIS that some people do it overnight on the 5th. When do you all do it?

 

[Princess Nancy]

Our Elf comes on St. Nicholas Day! The kids usually get candy and a few treats they might "need" or I have picked up. (Axe Spray, perfume etc.)

 

[design_mom]

When I grew up we always celebrated it on the evening of Dec. 6th, but I have read on the DIS that some people do it overnight on the 5th. When do you all do it?

I posted up thread, but I wanted to respond to this:

When I was in school, we made paper slippers to leave out on our desks overnight. Then next morning there would be a candy cane in each. We always left those out on the night of the 5th and they were filled *for* St. Nicholas day (Dec 6.)

When I was growing up, we lived out in the boonies. Easily 1/2 hour to the closest real store. (Our school was 45 minutes away.) My sister and I would go home and announce "tonight's the night we put our our shoes!" You could almost see the panic in my parents eyes. In more than one year, they convinced us that you put your shoes *out* on St. Nicholas Day... and they are filled by the 7th!

But in general, we put our shoes out on the night of the 5th, and they are filled by the morning of the 6th. (And we only put in treats that are wrapped or have a peel that doesn't get eaten. I've never noticed stinky treats... although food-in-shoes is an odd tradition if you stop to think about it, I guess!)

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

St. Nick brings, an ornament, a Christmas DVD, and a Music CD (now I-tunes or homemade). Sprinked in for some little extra loving is some Christmas candy, a pair of slippers, and an orange.

**When the kids move out all ornaments, movies, and music will go with them to start their Christmas collection.

 

[hopemax]

At my DH's house, St. Nicholas filled their stockings on St. Nicholas day. They did not leave their shoes out on St. Nicholas day...nor did Santa fill stockings at Christmas. (Funny how there are different traditions.)

This was how we did it growing up, until I figured out that other people got their stockings on Christmas. So then I talked my parents into doing it both days. Now, DH and I give each other a small gift on St. Nicholas Day.

We don't really do stockings, with the whole filling them up with candy and multiple small things. We always travel for the holidays, so either his Mom or my Mom will do stockings for us. We just don't do our own when we open the rest of our gifts before we leave.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We never celebrated St. Nicholas Day when I was young but it does sound like a fun time.

Can I ask, do you really put the food into their shoes? Do you end up with smelly treats!

This is what I was thinking! My kids shoes get really yucky. I don't think I would want to put treats in their shoes.

If we celebrated St. Nicholas Day, I would probably have to buy them each a new pair of shoes.

I do find it very interesting to hear about other peoples traditions.

 

[mtemm]

yes, we really put food in the shoes. lol. granted, we usually only put some chocoate santas and coins. and this year they are each getting a zhu zhu pet as well.

we put shoes out the night before, and st nicholas fills them so they are there when the kids wake up, just like when I was a kid.

 

[caytlyn]

My kids put out a shoe on the night of the 5th. They get some chocolate coins, a clementine, gingerbread man, an ornament and a small trinket.

It's a fun thing to do.

 

[Planogirl]

Thanks for the reminder. I'll probably skip the shoe but get DS a few treats. I wish that I could get to the Dutch store in Houston to buy the right items.

 

[TLuvsD]

Shoes out the night of Dec 5th, DD gets treats the morning of the 6th...usually holiday items (Twisted Peppermint bath soap, a Snowman t-shirt from Target). Not generally much food....I sometimes stuff the shoes the night before and Dh wants them outside the front door, so I worry about bugs....

 

[mickeyboat]

Hmmmm, maybe the reason we always did it on the evening of the 6th is because my parents forgot, too!

My kids would often put out their winter boots instead of their shoes - thinking they will get more with bigger footwear!