St. Nikolaus Tag

Today was the day the Germans celebrated their version of Santa Claus: St. Nikolaus Tag. This morning all the good little children of Germany woke up to their shoes being filled with small treats, usually edible ones. The kids in Bavaria celebrated last night, but that's just another tick on the list of how Bavaria is just NOT like the rest of this country! For more info on this day, click here.

Different parts of Germany and different families have various ways of observing this, but it's similar to how the American system works: Good kids get treats, naughty ones don't. They don't give out coal here to the naughty ones, they give out switches....I think I'd rather take the coal! When he was small, Stefan and his brother had to clean a boot and set it outside their bedroom door. They would awake to a boot filled with walnuts and clementines. They would also have an evergreen branch sticking out the top with chocolates and decorations hanging off it. There was always a chocolate Santa in there too.

This morning Stefan awoke to treats shoved in the toes of his shoes. St. Nick had come before Stefan went to bed apparently and was worried that Stefan would spot his treats early if they were spilling out of his shoes! St. Nick had to be sneaky since Stefan is usually the last one in bed and the first one up. I have a feeling St. Nick was in danger of getting caught and therefore didn't get a chance to fill my shoes - so even though I didn't get chocolate, at least I didn't get a switch!

The rest of the day was uneventful - class was all grammar and not much else. Since we were having trouble with our reflexive pronouns we didn't get to do anything fun, even discuss our reading last night. That drearyness matched the rainy weather and I was super thankful for the fantastic rain pants my parents had earlier sent! (yes, still riding my bike to school in December!)