St. Nicholas’ Feast Day is right around the corner on December 6th! In this blog post, I will share with you some of our family traditions for this special day. If you already celebrate St. Nicholas Day with your family, please share some of your favorite traditions as well!
The tradition of St. Nicholas Day isn’t celebrated here in the United States as much as it is in other parts of the world. In fact, some families actually give their presents on St. Nicholas Day instead of on Christmas or the Epiphany!
There are so many different way to celebrate St. Nicholas Day, and it’s so fun to bring these Catholic traditions to life for our children!
Shoe Tradition
The night before St. Nicholas Day, we will put all of our shoes under the Christmas tree! We like to fill them with:
- fruit or nuts (traditionally a mandarine)
- gold coins
- candy cane (the first one of the season)
- an ornament
- Christian Book
Search and Find: St. Nicholas
We don’t do Elf on the Shelf, but on the morning of St. Nicholas Day, we hide our little St. Nicholas figurine and the kids go search for him! Whoever finds him gets a little treat afterwards. We will continue this tradition through Christmas morning. The kids think this is a blast!
St. Nicholas Movie
We also watch a movie on St. Nicholas Day. I have two movies that the children get to pick from- Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa and Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas. The kids will watch one of the movies when they get home from school!
St. Nicholas cookie
We love to make these St. Nicholas cookies together to celebrate his feast day. They are absolutely adorable and so delicious. The kids love them! See the recipe below!
St. Nicholas Cookie Recipe:
Ingredients:
- white chocolate chips
- unsweetened coconut flakes
- red sugar sprinkles
- nutter butters
- black frosting (or something similar for the eyes and nose)
First you will want to melt your chocolate. Boil water in a small pot and once the water boils, turn off the heat. Put the chocolate chips in a small oven-safe bowl. Place the bowl with the chocolate chips just inside the pot of water and stir until all the chocolate is melted. Once the chocolate is smooth and creamy, you want to dip the ends of the nutter butter in the white chocolate and then again in a bowl of red sprinkles (this will make the hat!) You will repeat with the chocolate on the other side of the nutter butter as well (for the beard!) On the beard side, you can dip the chocolate in the coconut flakes to add texture. Lastly, you will want to add the eyes and mouth, and add the cross to his hat!
