Celebrating St. Nicholas Day - Our Traditions

Can you believe St. Nicholas Day is just around the corner?! December 6 really snuck up on me this year. The biggest Catholic tradition on St. Nicholas day is to put your shoes outside the night before and in the morning, they're filled with yummy treats! This would traditionally include chocolate coins (of which I already got some for my kids off the Target dollar spot this year. You can also get them at the Dollar Tree). I posted about St. Nicholas day shoe stuffing ideas last year.

My Favorite St. Nicholas Day Tradition
In my family growing up, we always decorated our tree on St. Nicholas Day. We put our shoes out on the porch before we start, and by the time we're finished St. Nicholas has mysteriously filled our shoes with candy! He also always brings a Christmas ornament for the tree that is some kind of reminder for the year (for example, if we went to the beach on vacation as a family that year we might all get sand castle ornaments). We write the year on our ornament and use put it on the tree. By the time I moved out I was ready to decorate a small Christmas tree of my own! Each of my ornaments holds a beautiful memory. I have continued this tradition with my children, and I like to make the ornaments myself when I have the time. Here's one I made last year:

In our home, even the unborn get a Christmas ornament!

I have made several of these pro life "expecting ornaments"

in the past. I write the due date month on the tag.

Due to multiple requests, I posted a short tutorial on
how to make this ornament on my facebook page.

The chocolate Santa turned St. Nicholas has definitely turned into a tradition at our house! You can find directions on how to make your own at the St. Nicholas Center.

We're starting a new St. Nicholas Day tradition here this year, too! Watching the CCC movie- Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa. You can see my review of the movie here. I'm also hoping to get Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving. *Updated to Say* We watched this on Netflix instant play and I thought it was really cute! All accept for that part in the middle about the dog that eats doughnuts... Mr. Lundt needs to leave the Silly Songs to Larry.

If you're looking for great St. Nicholas day ideas, The St. Nicholas Center is a must see! This site is absolutely amazing! Here are some things I found over there:

They have so many St. Nicholas figure crafts!

St. Nicholas Miter Treat Cups

Find an assortment of St. Nicholas Cookie Cutters.

The St. Nicholas Center really has everything; from recipes, crafts, and music to handouts and coloring pages! They do have a little store, but all the crafts and ideas are free!

Don't miss my post from last year on St. Nicholas Day Crafts! Happy Celebrating!
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St. Nicholas Day Shoe Stuffing Ideas

Don't forget to put your shoes out on Dec 5! St. Nicholas Day is just around the corner! Here's some ideas of things ol' St. Nick can fill those shoes with ;-)

This year, I had a different idea to symbolize the golden dowry St. Nicholas leaves than the typical chocolate chocolate golden coins. I'm using old fashioned candy buttons!

You can find them at your local drugstore, and easily cut them into strips that leave 3 "gold dowries" each. Perfect! One package costs $1.69 and yields 36 strips of yellow buttons. This is a cheap and easy way to stuff a lot of shoes if you happen to be a CCD teacher or have 12 kids. Plus, if you're allergic to chocolate, it's a great alternative! :-)

Here's what else is going in our shoes this year:

• Chocolate Santa Clause turned St. Nick (Idea from St. Nicholas Center)
  
• St. Nicholas Candy Canes (Idea from Shower of Roses)
  
• St. Nicholas hot chocolate (Idea from Shower of Roses)
  
• St. Nicholas Holy Cards

Hope everyone has a jolly St. Nicholas Day! :-)

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St. Nicholas Crafts for Kids

St. Nicholas Day is coming up on December 6! I found this great website called the St. Nicholas Center with a ton of great ideas! Here are some of my favorites I found on the site:

See multiple random St. Nicholas crafts, including this
super easy idea of folding a regular napkin into St. Nick's Hat! :-)
Wouldn't these be so cute at your dinner table on the 6th?

Find multiple St. Nicholas printable coloring sheets for children.

Check out this St. Nicholas Pizza
(amongst other fun food ideas!)

There were multiple ideas for making St. Nicholas Figures,
but I just loved this little guy! :-)

There were 3 Different St. Nicholas Felt Projects.
I like this puppet!

One of my favorite ideas they had was turning a regular
chocolate Santa into St. Nicholas! They show 3 different examples.

Check back soon for more St. Nicholas Day ideas!

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