The Feast of St. Nicholas

The feast of St. Nicholas is always so fun! The children hung their stockings the night before and awoke to a decorated mantle, adorned with a statue of St. Nicholas, gingerbread cookies, and goodies inside their stockings. Usually I keep the stockings pretty simple.

Here is a list of what I include in each stocking:

1. An ornament.
2. A small toy or two.
3. Gold chocolate coins to remind them of the generosity of St. Nicholas.
4. Candy canes because St. Nicholas was a bishop.
5. Mandarin organges because they are in season and taste good.
6. Something to wear on Christmas (like a hair bow or a tie).

This year our stockings were lovingly made by my mom. She even made us extra so the next babies can have matching stockings! It was really sweet of her. There were aprons too that she made for our cookie making this advent. They are seen hanging behind the stockings. Despite having stayed up until 3am baking a birthday cake and the cookies and then stuffing stockings, I think it turned out all right and the children surely enjoyed the day.