Saint Nikolaus

For many, December 6th is a date that just comes and goes...but in Germany, December 6th is the beginning of the festivities for children. 

The tradition goes a little like this...  Children put a shoe or a boot (Nikolaus-Stiefel) outside their door and in the morning, St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts or sweets if the child has been good and polite and helpful.  If they were rotten little kids then they get a tree branch or a switch instead.

This year, St. Nikolaus did come visiting to our house.

First, he wrote notes in his best St. Nikolaus penmanship on the back of two notecards.  One little girl got Santa's birdies...

And the other got a lion and a lambie... 

The notes he wrote on the back were very sweet, but got right to the point.  And, of course he ended them with - Ich Liebe Dich...I love you!

Did I mention that St. Nikolaus only writes in German?

Then he filled their shoes with what they deserved.  The first little girl will be sad to see she received a switch this year...but St. Nikolaus makes sure to let her know that if she works hard that he will bring her something wonderful on Christmas day...

And the second little girl who had such teeny tiny shoes...and whose only shoes we happened to have upstairs were her water shoes...got a little haribo gummy treat...

Now, the story goes that the children that got the switch were supposed to be beaten with it by their parents.  I think we'll probably skip that part of the tradition....this year...

What would St. Nikolaus bring you this year?  Gummies or a switch?