St. Nicholas

It's tradition in German households to receive a visit from Saint Nicholas on the night of Dec. 5th. All the kids leave shoes out by their door. If they've been good then St. Nicholas leaves candy in their shoes, if they've been naughty, his little helpers leave a swatch in the shoes so they can get a spanking. Of course, St. Nicholas visited our house and when the kids woke up the next morning, much to MY amazement they had candy and a little toy in their shoes. Who knew? Based on the preceeding days I would have thought the swatch more appropriate, but St. Nicholas must be more forgiving than I. The kids loved it and I was woken up that morning by Finley tapping me on my shoulder exclaiming, "LOOK!" and holding his little Star Wars toy surprise in my face. I love how excited the kids get with little things like this. Berlin got her own Princess block set (Cinderella). St. Nicholas must have known how much she liked to try and play with Finley's builder sets.

After playing we went to the annual German Choir Weinachmarkt for some Weiners & Kraut and some German goodies. The kids even got to meet St. Nicholas and got another treat from him. A huge thanks to St. Nicholas for all the fun goodies.