Caroline and I celebrated St. Nicholas Day by making some traditional cookies. I found this cookie cutter online but didn't have time to order it, so I just cut a shape out of cardboard, which we traced onto the dough with a knife. Caroline really enjoyed rolling out the dough and making her own little cookies. This is the recipe we used for St. Nikolaus Speculatius (Kris Kringel) Cookies, except I subbed more butter for the shortening. We made a lot of St. Nicholases... we gave them to Uncle Tim and to Daddy to take to work. We made them the day before so they'd be ready to give out on the 6th. This is something I'd like to do each year as a family tradition. I'm interested in trying to incorporate traditions throughout the liturgical year. I am starting small, since I have young children. I figure we can always add other things as the years go on and the children get older and more capable of things.
We also had a special feast for dinner and added a St. Nicholas blessing to our mealtime prayer. We got out the red Christmas-y placemats to use during this otherwise somber season of Advent. Caroline awoke to find chocolate coins in her shoe, too!
