Saint Nick's Day

We do. I was raised Catholic, and the area I grew up in is pretty German (Milwaukee), so it's pretty celebrated there. I only recently found out there were people who DIDN'T celebrate it.

Yes, we do! I was going to ask earlier, but got distracted.
My mom was raised by German Catholics.

I absolutely LOVED St. Nick as a child...so of course I have to do it w/ mine.

I have been a bad mommy though w/ no Christmas spirit (or Christmas money)...so I am heading out to Target right now!

we wake up to fruit in our shoe by the door. It's a lovely little tradition, but your ex is crazy if he thinks you should be spending that much! Growing up we always had a candy bar and an apple or orange in our shoe.

Honestly, I've never even heard of it!

We celebrated it growing up because we lived in Germany. But it was simple...candy and maybe one tiny toy in our shoes. Never anything extravagant. We also left a window cracked for the Christkindl. It was fun and we always looked forward to it, since we lived in Germany and heard about it often. I never passed those traditions along to my kids though. Anyone else want some Lebkuchen?

We did when the kids were little.

Been a few years.

We put their school shoes in front of the fireplace and put some candy in them.

:)

Well, we're a very Catholic family. We celebrated other Saint's feast days in traditional ways as well. Not so much anymore.

I grew up very Catholic German in MN and didn't do it, but knew kids at school who did. My husband grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee and did it every year. He said they got small trinkets or candy, but mostly candy. We are doing it for our kids cause why not have one more special day for them? I think it would have been fun to have growing up.

My parents also grew up in Milwaukee - one is German, the other Italian (and Catholic). As far as I know, they both had a St. Nick night, but for sure my mom's family did this. We grew up with it, and then after we all knew the truth about Santa, it fizzled out. My husband never celebrated it, so I haven't started the tradition for my 4 y/o (yet???) And although we celebrated it, I don't believe it was ever on a set date. I think it was always about 2 weeks or so before Christmas. We put empty stockings out, and they were filled the next morning with an apple, an orange, candy and a small toy or two - nothing expensive. Was fun for us when we were little. I wouldn't go all out personally. Something useful or fun for whatever age you have, and whatever fits into the stocking. For us, I think it was a fun event to tie us over until Santa came - you know how anxious kids are this time of year :) Good luck - have fun!

We never have.
Gets too complicated.
I don't blame you for being crabby.
I would be too.
;0

But we do the "Christmas Pickle" thing.

Good grief, no wonder you're crabby! Fruit only. Or maybe some nuts, since your ex is a NUT for thinking that you are going to spend $50 on stocking stuffers! (In addition to Christmas Eve?) No, no, no!

I like what Sara said. Fruit in shoes by the door. Would they be wooden shoes? Lovely little tradition!

Growing up we used to celebrate it every year. We would have a puppet show explaining what St. Nick's day is all about and sing Christmas songs. At the end of the show, the puppets (Santa & an Angel) would give us all a stocking full of goodies.

As an adult, we haven't celebrated it until this year. Recently my son has been going to Religious Education classes and they taught him all about the history of St. Nick. So this year, he said he was going to put his shoe next to his bed just to "see" what would happen. It will be full by tomorrow morning.

It was always so fun for us as kids and know it will be just as fun for my own children.

Food in the shoes???? Glad I missed this one :)

When my daughter was smaller we did the St. Nick's day thing including the shoes nicyly polished outside the door. She had so much fun with it. Now she is too grown up for it of course. Now I am waiting for future grandkids to teach them about our Christmas traditions.

I do! But it is SMALL stuff. A litttle bit of candies, a book and maybe toy cars. Just a LITTLE something.