Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Making Ready for the Nativity

Nativity table begun! 

I can't wait! I love getting out all of our little ornaments and mangers and nativity scenes and talking to the children about softening our hearts. For my non-Orthodox friends, we do Christmas a little differently - we fast 40 days before Christmas, so we try to avoid too many treats and parties and focus instead on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But we still celebrate the fast with much joy and anticipation! And because we start early, I have to hold myself back a little, and not pull out all the things on November 15. I know some people feel like the activities and crafts are too much pressure this time of year, but for me it is a joy. And most of my work was done in years past, so I keep it pretty simple now. Here's my plan:

Celebrating the Nativity Fast, Feast and 12 days

At the start of the fast (Nov. 15): Put up a simple garland on the fireplace for our Jesse tree ornaments, and get out our empty manger to start our manger activity (we're making a soft place to welcome Christ through acts of kindness). Also, put up our Nativity Countdown Printable to keep track of the days. Make a meal plan and put that on the fridge, as well.

The girls and I will be reading through the books of Luke and Acts in the mornings during the fast. And we're looking forward to praying the Advent Paraklesis at church on Wednesdays during the fast.

On St. Nicholas Day (Dec 5/6): Put out our shoes for St. Nicholas, and find them filled with treats in the morning. Later in the day we will put up our Christmas tree!

On St. Lucia Day (Dec. 13): Put up lights in the kitchen window to remember our saint of light. We'll also make Lucia buns to take and share at church.

The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (Dec. 13): Get out our toy nativity set to play with as we approach Christmas. Our ongoing Jesse Tree activity teaches the meaning of this Sunday, so I'll briefly talk about this to the kids on the way to Liturgy. All the stories we've been reading point to Christ, listen to the hymns and readings today to see how many of the Old Testament stories you know!

Christmas Eve (Dec. 24): This year, we'll celebrate Christmas here at our own mission church for the first time. We're very excited about celebrating in our own town with all of our people (and about not having to drive late at night). The Liturgy starts late, after 10 PM - don't forget to take a nap!

On Christmas Day (Dec. 25): Find our baby Jesus in the manger! Open presents and eat sausage balls and other goodies! I've seen an old custom to eat your Christmas Dinner with straw on the table under a linen table cloth. I've always wanted to do that (how memorable for the children!) so maybe this year will be the year!

The Twelve Days of Christmas (Dec. 25 - Jan. 5): This is the time we usually spend with family, doing the laid back celebrating. We make sure to eat lots of goodies and do lots of singing during this time. We usually end up doing all of the Jesse Tree readings for this period all at once, and usually the night before Theophany.

New Years/St. Basil's Day (Jan. 1): We are often just getting back home from our travels. We'll enjoy a lazy day unpacking, and bake a vasilopita using my favorite recipe.

Theophany (Jan. 6): I love this service at church with the Great Blessing of the Water. We'll drink whatever Holy Water we have left and take our cleaned bottles to church to fill with new water. After Theophany, we'll put away the tree and clean house to get ready for our house blessing!

How beautifully the church calendar rolls around again and again. Thank God!

Cookies for St. Nicholas Day

my finished cookies! The book shown is the Life of St. Nicholas by St. Nectarios Press.
We also like St. Nicholas: the Real Story of the Christmas Legend

Happy (belated) St. Nicholas day to all!

I love St. Nicholas day! We have enjoyed developing some traditions at our house to remember this great saint, and also his namesake, our child Nicholas. This year, however, St. Nicholas was also named the patron of our new mission church! So in addition to plans at home, I was busy planning for a celebration at church as well. It was such a lot of fun, and we're thrilled to have such a special patron. I really wanted to make a bunch of individual St. Nicholas cookies, and spent WAY too much time figuring out how. In the past I've made a large cookie for our family shaped like St. Nicholas, but to make the same thing, with a fasting recipe, in miniature, times 60 - was quite an ordeal. But I admit to having fun doing it!

I don't know if I'll repeat these next year, but I wanted to be sure to record all the things I wanted to remember to make it easier on myself if I do. Next time, much less trial and error, lets hope. Recipes and tips below!

Our table before breakfast. One little girl had discovered her treats. 

Our St. Nicholas day breakfast table with stickers and treats and stories and shoes. :)

Initially, I started my cookie baking by trying to make a speculaas recipe with a lovely cookie mold I bought months ago. They have lots of tips on this site also (scroll down to find the recipes and tips). Unfortunately, it was a total failure. I'll try again sometime, but I decided to go back to my sugar cookies recipe. 

However, I couldn't find a simple St. Nicholas cookie cutter that wasn't too Santa Claus-y, and I didn't want to shape them all individually. Finally, I created my own cookie cutter from a snowman by flattening the round bottom and squishing the hat into a point instead of a top hat. I traced the cutter on paper to seem the outline as I worked on it, and was pleased it didn't take too long. My cookie cutter was only about 2.5 inches tall, but spread a bit to make a 3" cookie.

I was able to add details with fine tip icing. I just use a baggie with a tiny corner clipped. I based my design on this simple one that is cute and cartoony, but with eastern bishop style from the St. Nicholas Center (scroll down and look on the right side bar for the Ukranian Nykolai Cookies).

Fasting sugar cookies

3 cups flour

1.5 cup sugar

1.5 cup non-butter (earth balance buttery sticks - no less that 60% veg oil!!)

3 tsp baking powder

3 tsp vanilla extract

3 zestlemon /3 TBSP lemon juice

Chill for 1 hour. Roll out and cut shapes. If you plan to leave the cookie face blank for skin, poke holes with a toothpick before baking to create dimples for the eyes. Bake at 345 for 10-15 minutes or until brown. Be sure to let the pans cool between baking. Let cool before glazing. Makes about 5 dozen with a small cookie cutter - which is great for church parties, but takes a long time to glaze and ice all of them! For home, cut recipe in half.

The cookies after baking: they spread a bit while baking, until I reused a pan without letting it cool. Then they held their shape very well, but were just a bit crunchy and too small to work on the details. I ended up liking the bigger ones better. 

Glaze Recipe

Note: if you want to make eyes with icing, you will need to glaze over face and use white icing to create a beard later. I learned this the hard way, which is why mine have no eyes. Pipe on to define shape, then spread with knife. Let harden before icing.

4.5 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

4 tablespoons light corn syrup

3-4 TBSPs of water, more if needed, but add sparingly

After cooling, I drew out my plans on a paper. Then I applied a glaze, leaving blank cookie for the face.
I squirted the glaze on to define the shape, and then spread it with a knife. This was a
bit time consuming. Next time I may just use a knife and cover the whole face with the glaze...

Fasting Royal Icing Recipe

After the glaze hardens you can pipe fine details on with a dark red. I added a bit of black to my red so that the icing wouldn't be too orangey red. A very fine tip (or tiny cut corner) will help make finer lines for better details. 

1.5 cups confectioners sugar

4 tsps water

2-3 tsps light corn syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

gel food coloring

Cookies with a dark red icing finely lined over the glaze for details. 

A happy St. Nicholas Morning

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

This is one of our favorite mornings each year, and today was quite sweet. We had a St. Nicholas party earlier this week, and so we already read our St. Nicholas stories, ate our St. Nicholas cookies, and found coins in our shoes once - but I couldn't resist doing a little something again this morning.

The girls put out their shoes last night, and found them this morning filled with quite a lot of gold (chocolate) coins, and a few stickers - each girl got stickers just right for them - ocean creatures and pink ponies. There was even spontaneous sharing! It was a simple treat, but enough to remember the secret kindness of St. Nicholas, the real joy of gift giving in this frantic season.

So we spent this quiet St. Nicholas morning coloring pictures for the stickers, nibbling on chocolate [and coffee], while listening to the last few chapters of The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe. We picked up on the joyous chapter where the stone creatures come back to life:

Everywhere the statues were coming to life. The courtyard looked no longer like a museum; it looked more like a zoo. Creatures were running after Aslan and dancing round him till he was almost hidden in the crowd. Instead of all that deadly white the courtyard was now a blaze of colours; glossy chestnut sides of centaurs, indigo horns of unicorns, dazzling plumage of birds, reddy-brown of foxes, dogs and satyrs, yellow stockings and crimson hoods of dwarfs; and the birch-girls in silver, and the beech-girls in fresh, transparent green, and the larch-girls in green so bright that it was almost yellow. And instead of the deadly silence the whole place rang with the sound of happy roarings, brayings, yelpings, barkings, squealings, cooings, neighings, stampings, shouts, hurrahs, songs and laughter.

This is a bittersweet day for me: reminding me of the joy of children and life, saints and loved ones in heaven, and the kindness and goodness that connects us all. This reading from C. S. Lewis seemed just right.

And I had my own little St. Nicholas Day miracle: I've been wanting a copy of Mother Gavrilia: Ascetic of Love for a few years, but used copies are listed on Amazon for ridiculous prices in the $1,000's. I set up a saved search thingy on Ebay. Occasionally I get an email saying the book is for sale for something like $100, and I just delete the email. Last week, I got an email saying it was listed for $5.98! I snatched it up before someone else did! A nice thick book arrived in the mail just in time for St. Nicholas Day, so this morning, I'll settle in with my coffee for some reading.

I'll share our The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe studies soon! In the meantime, wishing you all a happy St. Nicholas Day.

Find activities and stories for St. Nicholas Day here. 

St. Nicholas Troparion, printable

Our dear priest brought oil from the reliquary of St. Nicholas and loaned us a small 13th century russian icon of him to keep through Christmas. It was very special to have it in our home, and surreal to think of its many years. I think its hard for Americans to really grasp history sometimes, and this icon has been confronting me with my own limited place in time, and the reality of the history that I read. 

Our father among the saints Nicholas of Myra, Wonder-worker, was the archbishop of Myra in southern Asia Minor in the fourth century and is also the basis for the Santa Claus legends and imagery which accompany Christmas celebrations in much of the world.
While widely honored and venerated, not only in the Orthodox Church, but throughout most Christian groups, little is known historically of the life of Nicholas. He is known to have been archbishop of Myra and he may have participated in the Council of Nicea in 325. In addition to being honored as the patron saint of many countries, notably Greece and Russia, and of cities, he is the patron of many occupational groups, most notably of sea-farers. St. Nicholas is commemorated by the Church on December 6, and also on May 9 (the transfer of his relics) and on July 29(his nativity). - orthodoxwiki

Happy St. Nicholas Day

"It's been a long journey from the Fourth Century Bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, who showed his devotion to God in extraordinary kindness and generosity to those in need, to America's jolly Santa Claus, whose largesse often supplies luxuries to the affluent. However, if you peel back the accretions, he is still Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, whose caring surprises continue to model true giving and faithfulness." - from the Origin of Santa at the St. Nicholas Center

I hope you all have a lovely St. Nicholas Day! Learning about St. Nicholas is a beautiful way to delve into this season with a spirit of giving, and take a step back from the tensions and commercials that can overwhelm us this time of year.

We started the morning with just a few small treats in our shoes - a candy cane for St. Nicholas' staff, gold coins to remind us of his generosity, and a few small stickers just for fun. We read this story of St. Nicholas over breakfast (which was half chocolate coins, I'm afraid), and this afternoon we'll make cookies.

My intentions of making this day one of meaningful charity have fallen through yet again, and I marvel at those like St. Nicholas, for whom charity was a daily activity. Alas, the girls and I will make Christmas cards and cookies to give away, so that we can at least think of others throughout the day.

from the Life of St. Nicholas, at the council of Nicaea

Last year, I shared a picture of the story of St. Nicholas and the dowries from the St. Nicholas center, but this year I'm enjoying reading the stories about St. Nicholas at the council of Nicaea and the role he played in defending the doctrine of the Trinity. One retelling is here: Bishop Nicholas loses his cool.

Theology nerds will enjoy this silly song to the tune of "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius" about the doctrines formulated at the council:

 [chorus] Superchristological and Homoousiosis Even though the sound of them is something quite atrociousYou can always count on them to anathemize your GnosisSuperchristological and Homoousiosis

One Prosopon, two Ousia are in one Hypostasis.
At Chalcedon this formula gave our faith its basis.
You can argue that you don't know what this means,
But don't you go and try to say there’s a "Physis" in between!

Go the St. Nicholas center to see the full song and the definitions of all the greek words.  And be sure to browse the stories, activities, and recipes. The makers of the St. Nicholas Center have filled it with buckets of information, stories and links. Enjoy!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

This is the first year we've celebrated St. Nicholas Day, so we're having fun learning and making new traditions. In a little bit, the girls will wake up and find their shoes filled with a few small treats, including St. Nicholas staff (candy cane) and gold coins (chocolate) to remind them of how he gave to the three girls in the story.

Yesterday, we made cookies, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite pre-Christmas traditions.  This was the first time I made shaped cookies with the kids, and they thought it was so cool (just like play dough!).

And later, we'll spend the day making gifts for family and friends (Martha has a great list of gifts kids can make). We decided to make gift making on St. Nicholas day part of our family tradition partly because we want our children to be people who see the needs of others, like St. Nicholas did. It is all too easy to be self-involved (believe me, I know), but compassion begins with looking at the people around you, instead of yourself.  And I want to be compassionate. Our gifts won't be world changing for anyone this year, but hopefully they will help my girls and I look outward. Perhaps it will grow into something more significant.

Ultimately, I want this day to become a day of compassion for our family. Which is hard sometimes during the holidays as you recount your life, your goals, your wish lists.  I want to teach my kids compassion, but I think I'm hungering for it, too.

How do you teach your kids about giving at Christmas?

St. Nicholas and the Dowries

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And be sure to check out the St. Nicholas Center!  You could easily lose an afternoon there. Which I did. So here are a few of my favorite links to help you out:

• the story of St. Nicholas and the Dowries - explains the custom of the shoes
• How St. Nicholas became Santa Claus 
• ideas on How to Celebrate.
• several online picture books for kids
• traditional recipes from various countries
• and, of course, St. Nicholas craft projects