St. Nicholas, part 3 -- and last one, we promise!

We hope we've made a good case by now for the benefits of adding in a St. Nicholas Day celebration to your yearly calendar.  We realize that you may be thinking another holiday is the very last thing you need in the short few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but as has been our premise all along, Christians of all people have the most reasons to celebrate!

And, really, the way many of us observe St. Nicholas Day, it really is not adding in more stuff, festivities, or activities as much as spreading it all out.  Instead of Christmas Day being a giant hodge-podge of Santa-given stockings and multiple gifts.... oh yeah, and Jesus' birthday... it is now a little more parsed out.  The Santa stuff on December 6th, and Jesus on December 25th.  I, for one, have greatly enjoyed having that clear distinction.

Both of the last posts have given plenty of good suggestions for how to celebrate this day, but if you need some more, here are a few:

• Use all your Santa decorations.

• Make all kinds of Santa and reindeer foods, for any meals during the day (See Pinterest for ideas).

• Use this day to bless others around you.  Our family has used the cover of night to "candy cane" a few people's homes each year, decorating their front yard with hundreds of candy canes and then anonymously leaving a note and gift.  We try to pick families who we think could use some encouragement or have a particular need.  (This is our kids' favorite activity of the day, maybe year -- getting to act like stealthy candy-caning ninjas!)

• Get together with friends to enjoy a meal with Middle-Eastern flavors (since St. Nicholas was from Turkey).

Here is a detailed post of how our St. Nicholas Day looked one year.

We hope you enjoy this special day, celebrating and imitating a man who lived a unique life centuries ago!