Feast of St. Nicholas

We have learned so much about this great saint this Advent. We read lots of picture books, watched Nicholas, the Boy Who Became Santa, and had hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers. A precious friend pointed me to an article about St. Nicholas in Word Among Us (a magazine). It spoke of how we often attribute most of the stuff about him to legend, but that he really was a great man, who did great things for God. It said that since his death in the 4th century, his remains have secreted a liquid that has been associated with physical and spiritual healing. How amazing is that?!

Then the article said this:

"In the early nineteenth century, a quite different kind of wonder began to unfold in the city of New York. In a development that our ancestors in the faith would have found astonishing, holy Bishop Nicholas was repackaged as a fat, bearded elf in a red suit.

It began in 1809, when the New York Historical Society decided to promote St. Nicholas and to recapture the Christmas traditions of the city’s early Dutch settlers. Those settlers had not, in fact, continued their St. Nicholas traditions in the New World, but this lack was quickly met. That same year, writer Washington Irving published a satirical account of New York’s Dutch history. The spoof included descriptions of a jolly, pipe-smoking St. Nicholas who flew over treetops and slid down chimneys to deliver gifts. The fiction quickly became an urban legend.

In 1822 came the hugely popular poem by Clement Clarke Moore, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” This gave the bishop his furs, sleigh, and reindeer, along with a date change: “the night before Christmas.” Illustrators and commercial artists did the rest. By 1931, a hefty Santa Claus (from Sinterklaas, the Dutch name for St. Nicholas) was advertising Coca-Cola.

Today, the whole world recognizes Santa. By comparison, not many would recognize the face of St. Nicholas."

This made me so sad...that, in a nutshell, the man hailed by the world as the great big thing about Christmas is nothing but a mockery of the real saint. For us, this was a confirmation of what the Lord did in our hearts regarding Santa a few years ago. We are so grateful to have learned so much of the truth of this great man.

Here's what the kiddos woke up to on the morning of December 6th.

And here they are modeling...my boy's looking a little loopy.

For Tea Time, we made chocolate santas into St. Nicholas' with a bishop's hat and miter.

And just because she's so cute when she knows she's being disobedient.