[Katya]

My kids faithfully put out their shoes on the eve of December 5th, only to find it filled with sweets the next morning by Saint Nicholas. Of course they also leave a carrot and some green sprigs for his donkey to munch on.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

We do the same in our house, with the exception that those of us on the Julian Calendar do so the night of December 18. We have always had the story of St. Nicholas, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Myra in Lycia (Asia Minor, later conquered by the Turks).

Little known fact: Terry Mattingly , whose article appears above and in 400 newspapers' religion sections, is Orthodox Christian, and we met him at our church a couple of years ago!

[OpusatFR]

How wonderful! My kids are grown but that always ushered in Christmas anticipation along with the Advent Calendar.

The only problem I had when growing up was explaining to my elementary school classmates that St. Nicholas came on December 6!

[longjack]

My kids faithfully put out their shoes on the eve of December 5th

Kids?

The shoes I put out last night were were stuffed this morning, too.

longjack