The sixth day was St. Nicholas Day! According to tradition, children leave out their shoes and Christmas lists for St. Nicholas the night before St. Nicholas Day. If they've been good, their lists will be gone and in its place will be a gift.
Typically, the gift is some candy but originally it was things like oranges. As we have done since Marshall was two months old, in our house it's books! We also do Christmas pajamas.
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| They've been good! |
I adore what St. Nicholas brought this year: matching pajamas and books from Brad Meltzer's series "I am"!
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| Marshall is so excited for his new pajamas and book |
Marshall received "I am Jackie Robinson" and Violet received "I am Amelia Earhart". The philosophy behind the series is that children are always looking for heroes and people to idolize; we as parents should give them proper heroes to look up to. Marshall's love of baseball made Jackie Robinson an easy choice! He also played ball originally for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues; next time we go back to Marshall's hometown I hope we can bring Marshall to the Negro League Baseball Museum so Mads can learn more about baseball's history as well as the history of segregation and how separate is never equal. Amelia Earhart is also the perfect role model for little Violet. She didn't let anyone stop her from achieving her dreams- I really want Violet (and Marshall) to learn that the sky is the limit, no one and nothing can stop them from achieving their dreams.
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| My littles and their heroes- Violet is pretty excited to get into that book |
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| I can't believe this is Marshall's FIFTH St. Nicholas day! Four of which are documented on the blog |
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| And of course our little Violet's first! We love you so much sweet girl. |
After the initial excitement of the books and new pajamas, we talked a bit about who Saint Nicholas was and where the tradition of setting out our shoes comes from.
To help make the story interesting- and drive the story home- we made a bishop hat and then played a St. Nick day themed game.
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| I just cut out a piece of scrapbbok paper from my drawer and then used a glue stick, cotton balls, glitter, and extra paper and tape to make a band for around his head. |
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| Gluing the cottonballs on |
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| Sprinkling the glitter onto a the glue in a cross shape |
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| Marshall's St. Nicholas Bishop's hat |
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| He loved the way it turned out |
The hat was so easy to whip up quick and Mads loved it! We talked about how St. Nicholas was able to keep a family together by throwing satchels of gold coins through the window and into the family's shoes. I always make a point to tell Marshall to give without expectation and without judgement in his heart. To give because you want to help and to never judge why or how a person needs help. To make this into a game we grabbed: some Melissa & Doug coins that Brad's parents gave Marshall last Christmas, a small satchel that Violet's teething necklace came in, and some of Mads' shoes.
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| We also practiced counting and the names of the coins as we put them in the satchel |
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| Tossing the satchels into his shoes |
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| His happy dance when he landed it in his target |
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| His happy dances can take awhile |
All this talk about Saint Nicholas/ Santa made Marshall wonder what was going on up in the North Pole. He checked in and Jingle-Meyer the elf answered and told Marshall all about how 'super jumping beans' were spilled and bouncing everywhere!
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| "Hello, North Pole?" |
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| Jingle-Meyer asked him if he could jump like a jumping bean- don't have to ask Marshall twice! |
It was a great day of fun and learning how fun it is to give. Ending on a sweet note with special Santa 'jammie's and story time cuddles with papa.
The sixth day was a fun day of tradition and learning. Learning about why we celebrate Santa and why Santa loves to give. Also learning about some pretty wonderful people from history, Jackie Robinson & Amelia Earhart, and hopefully pass on my love of history in the process. We hope everyone finds treats in their stockings and shoes and passes on the generosity when the opportunity presents itself. Happy St. Nicholas day!
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