Starting Your Own Family Traditions: St Nick's Feast Day

Christmas is my favorite Holiday and I love everything about the season. 

Becoming a parent has made me want to make the Holiday Season extra special for Jackson. 

A new tradition that I started for our little family is celebrating St.Nicholas' Feast Day. Nick's family mentioned celebrating it themselves (and when they were younger) before we had Jax and I knew it was something I wanted to incorporate once we had kids ourselves. This tradition is a celebration of the start of the Christmas Season and includes putting out shoes the night before St.Nick's feast day, and the next morning they are "filled by St.Nick" with treats or money.

The origin of this tradition is as follows: In the third century there was a man names Nicholas who was a Bishop in the early Greek town of Myra. He was born into wealth and had a generous heart. Because of this generosity he would distribute wealth where it was needed. He One day he heard of a poor man who could not afford his three daughter's dowry, the man would have to give his daughter's up to prostitution instead of being able to marry them. Nicholas heard of this and for three nights in a row dropped a bag of gold down their chimney that landed in a sock that was hung to dry. The girls were saved and this became one of the most famous legends of St. Nicholas. In many countries a Christmas sock is hung by the fireplace, or a shoe placed outside the door for St. Nicholas to fill. The modern day Santa Claus us derived from St Nicholas. 
This year is a little different because Nick is currently deployed, so we don't have a real tree up yet, and St Nicholas has one less boot to fill. You can bet Nick was, of course, still able to get his boot filled by St Nicholas overseas! He's such a good sport 💛

Our St. Nick boots are usually filled with:


Something to wear

Good ideas for this would be Christmas PJs, an item of clothing, a winter clothing item, etc.

This year Jax got a new Carhartt beanie and I got my favorite lotion from Victoria's Secret.

Something to eat

Good ideas for this are your kids favorite treats, "themed candy", or Christmas candy.

This year Jax got Hi-Chews (a Japanese candy) since Dad is currently deployed to Japan and got Hi-Chews as well! I got Ghirardelli Seasonal Chocolates...because...yum!

Something to use

Good ideas for this is anything you want to incorporate that you think is useful or special to your child.

For this I put out our special Jesus stocking that Jax's Busia and Dziadzia got us last Christmas. Now that he is a little older I want to start explaining the meaning behind Christmas, and it also gives him an extra little stocking to hang on the mantle. For my own useful gift, I got makeup!

Christmas Tree

On our little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree I put an ornament to represent each of us this year. The W at the top for our family name, a USAF pilot snowman for Nick, a Rhino for me (because I love Rhinos) and a Buzz ornament because Jax is obsessed. I put a candy cane in each boot, incorporating another religious aspect into the day, as well as incorporating a special tradition that my Mom used to do for us when we were little. The candy cane represents St.Nick's bishop crosier and my own family's tradition of candy canes appearing on our Christmas tree every Christmas morning that were  "hung by Santa Claus".



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