The tradition comes from my nearly 3 years of living in Germany when I was a little girl, then combined with trying to tie in some sense of heritage from Frank's German roots. Not to mention that there is always candy involved, and in the Strausser Family, if there's candy, there is going to be chocolate. This means we must celebrate. Need I say more?
So we put our shoes out at the door on St. Nicholas Eve, December 5, then in the morning there are goodies and treats inside the shoes that "St. Nick" has brought. We generally read a story about the legend of the saintly giver of treats, and try to do something on December 6th to commemorate the man and the sentiment of giving. After that, there's really not much mentioned in the way of St. Nick or Santa Clause in our house, the rest of the holiday season is focused on the birth of Jesus.
This year, we stumbled upon a Christmas Festival held locally every year at a church not too far from here at Alleluia Community. So we went in the morning and perused the wares that were for sale, and bought several baked goods and looked around. The general atmosphere of this group of people was overwhelmingly friendly, yet sincere. It felt good to be there. Later, we went back for the late afternoon/evening festivities which included authentic German foods (and some Italian, but we mostly were trying to stay in the German mood), a huge warm toasty bon-fire, games for the kids, a beautiful 'cafe' set up with candle-lights, several brightly lit Christmas trees, and an incredible dessert bar. To top off the beauty of the room, there were some chello players there that made the atmosphere seem almost Norman Rockwell. It was a very pleasant place to spend the evening.
After the children played games, won prizes, and wore themselves out, there was a grand finalle of a very funny and entertaining magic show. The whole day was just extremely sweet, and very very St. Nicholas-like.
And of course, the photos did not load in the order in which I wanted them to. And for some reason, the above text is underlined when I keep insisting that it not be. Hmph!
He is not unhappy. Truly he's not. He looks tortured in some of these pics, but he was having a good time. I just didn't get the snaps of the happy faces. :)
This is by the fire, it was a good place to get your buns toasted.
The next Tiger Woods....
They had these neat little balloon sculptures all over the place. This one is a candy cane.
Who doesth disturb my slumber?
Candy. Now that's worth waking up early for.
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