Sankt Nikolaustag

The Facebook post of a friend who recently moved to Leipzig, Germany tugged at my nostalgia for the innocence of childhood and a tradition brought from my short time in Switzerland. 

"Walking up the Leipzig apartment stairs last night, shoes filled with goodies waited quietly outside doors where children live."   

Sankt Nikolaus managed to make it from Leipzig to St. Paul last night to fill two additional pairs of shoes.  Oliver and Soren woke up to shoes filled with chocolate coins, clementines and GORP, an Americanized nod to the traditional nuts, dried fruit and chocolate children in northern Europe receive. 

Each boy also received an extra gift from Sankt Nikolaus this year - a book.  I decided to move the Book on Every Bed, an initiative to promote reading by giving children a new book on Christmas morning, to St. Nicholas Day.  Since I like to gift Christmas-themed books, I thought it made more sense for the kids to receive the books before Christmas.  Now they'll have some more time to enjoy One-Dog Sleigh and Little Santa.