Have you been good this year?

Sierra Vista Herald ^ | Kitty Bottemiller kbottemiller@gvnews.com

[SandRat]

For German children, Dec. 6 marks a special day. It’s “Nikolaus Tag,” Saint Nicholas Day. There are endless variations of how that day is celebrated, but almost all boil down to children being anxious about receiving small gifts. In some areas of Germany, children put their boots outside of the front door for the night from Dec. 5 to 6 in hopes of finding small gifts and candy in them in the morning, provided they behaved well in the past year. In other areas gift bags “miraculously” appear outside the front door on the evening of the 6th; or somebody dressed in a Santa Claus-like costume comes knocking, asks if they behaved well and then hands the children their gifts. In more religious areas, the impersonator wears a bishop’s robe which is more in tune with who Saint Nicholas actually was.

When my mother grew up in post-war Germany, children were delighted to wake up to tangerines, apples and walnuts in their boots on Saint Nicholas Day, simply because at the time that was something special. As with most things, times have changed and — while I vividly remember finding mainly Christmas-themed chocolates, candy, maybe a tangerine or two in my boots — my children have been growing up associating this day with actual gifts, albeit small.

Our children have been told that Nikolaus visits German children all over the world, and since they are half German and half American they get the best of both worlds, and Nikolaus will fly all the way to Arizona to reward them for being good all year (Ahem!). Therefore, they expect a loud knock on the door the evening of the 6th and they then race to the front door, yank it open, only to find one or two gift bags for each of them and Nikolaus already gone. When our oldest was younger, it was easy for me to set the bags out front, close the door, bang on it and quickly move away. Now that she’s 7, she’s getting a little too questioning and inquisitive (and too fast!) for me to pull it off so I always find a friend to drop the bags and bang on the door for me. Last year, I had it all planned out just for our daughter to declare at the very last minute that she drew a picture for Nikolaus and wanted to tape it to the front door for him. I quickly texted my Canadian friend who had volunteered to drop the bags, and asked her to take the drawing with her so that our daughter would think that Nikolaus had taken it. Because think about it, if a 6-year-old draws a picture for that mystical figure and it doesn’t get taken, I have a lot of explaining to do! So there was the loud bang, then the 6- and 2-year-olds raced to the door, found their gift bags, and waved and yelled “Thank you!” to the sky, because Saint Nicholas had already taken off on his sled, of course! Our daughter went through her gift bag and suddenly exclaimed “Mama, Nikolaus left me a card! Can you read it for me?” Sure enough, there was a wonderful card thanking her (in German!) for her drawing! My beautiful Canadian friend had been quick on her toes and quickly drew up a Google translation to write on the card for our daughter to find. Seeing just how much that gesture reinforced our daughter’s belief in Nikolaus and the magic of the holiday season brought tears to my eyes and still does every time I think about it. They grow up so fast, so being able to keep them believing for another year or two makes all the difference to this mama.

Kaffeeklatsch is written by Kat Hanson, a native of Germany and military spouse of ten years. She moved to Sierra Vista with her active-duty Army husband and two children in 2014. She previously lived in Monterey, California, Fort Stewart, Georgia, and her native Germany. Kat is a marketing consultant in the Advertising Department at the Herald/Review. For questions and comments, email katja.hanson@myheraldreview.com or call 520-515 4633.

[Doogle]

...depends on who ya talk to...and about what

[Katya]

very cute, thanks for posting. I had it easy, we put out our boots the evening of Dec 5th, and the children simply woke up to go look.

[Vaquero]

Let’s see. I haven’t stolen from anyone. Haven’t killed anyone. Haven’t hit on anyone ( cept the wife). Coveting? Does that mean look and drool? Maybe. Parents? Long gone to their rewards. False gods? Nope.
Keep the Sabbath? In my OWN way (ala Hipshot Percussion).

So I’m pretty good. There is that fine line between wanting something and coveting that I’m not sure of. But hey, I consider myself good.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Hey Vaquero, I may be the most judgmental person you know, and I think you're good.... most of the time! (I'm counting in the 7 - 8 hours of sleep to make the averages work.,..:o)

The adoption people didn't know for sure the absolute day of our Russian son Vanya's birth, since he was an abandoned child (though he did have a legal date) --- so we changed it to December 6 when we adopted him. You're allowed to do that. We did it because St. Nicholas is his patron saint.

It happens that Nicholas is the patron of several countries (including Turkey, the Netherlands, and Russia), the patron of orphans, of fishermen and sailors, of women looking for husbands, and of smacking heretics on the nose. And of tangerines, I suppose. Good all-around saint.

[SandRat]

I’m still trying to figure out “Santa Paws” a.k.a. Charlie our “American Eski Dog”

[SandRat]

a biblical example of a Walker Texas Ranger?

[Mrs. Don-o]

Well, yeah -— but 4th century. Firewalker Fourth Century.