Ways For Catholics To Celebrate St. Nicholas's Day

December 6th is the feast day of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children, which appropriately falls during the Advent season. This feast day is an especially exciting one for children as they count down the days on their Advent calendars in anticipation of Christmas Day.

St. Nicholas of Myra is a major saint in many European and Eastern countries. While Catholics in America aren't as big on celebrating this feast day with their children, more and more American Catholic families are adopting St. Nicholas Day as a special Advent family tradition. 

Here are some fun and easy traditions you can incorporate into your household!

Leave Your Shoes Out For St. Nicholas

One of the old Christian traditions surrounding St. Nicholas's feast day is for kids to leave their shoes out overnight in front of the fireplace, on the windowsill, or outside their bedroom door so that St. Nicholas can fill them with special fruits, candies, and other small gifts and treats.

This tradition grew from the story of when St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, threw bags of dowry money, either through a window or down a chimney, into the home of an impoverished family to rescue their daughters from being sold into slavery. This was just one of his many acts of good will and charity towards the poor, especially poor children.

Ideas to include in your children's shoes are bags of chocolate candy coins, a small toy, new socks, a tangerine, and small religious items, such as a  Catholic saint statue, a Christmas ornament, a rosary, a saint bracelet, and prayer cards. You can also include candy canes which symbolize a shepherd's staff.

Another cute part of this tradition is for kids to leave carrots or hay in their shoes overnight for St. Nicholas's donkey to eat. St. Nicholas takes the hay and carrots for his donkey, and replaces them with small gifts and treats for the children in the morning.

Yes...St. Nicholas was known to ride a donkey laden with gifts for children before he graduated to flying reindeer!

St. Thérèse of Lisieux describes this tradition in her home in France as a small child and recounts how much she loved it. However, for her family this happened not on St. Nicholas's Day but on Christmas Eve (similar to our American tradition of hanging stockings by the fireplace).

"I knew that when we reached home after Midnight Mass I should find my shoes in the chimney-corner, filled with presents, just as when I was a little child...Papa, too, liked to watch my enjoyment and hear my cries of delight at each fresh surprise that came from the magic shoes, and his pleasure added to mine."  ~ St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul

St. Nicholas's feast day traditions vary widely from country to country, but they all carry the same theme of small gifts and treats left in either shoes or stockings.

Continuing this Advent tradition in your own home is a great way to teach your children to venerate the saints and to deepen their knowledge of and love for the Christian faith.

Refocus On The Reason For The Season

Another way to celebrate St. Nicholas's Day is to use it as a way to refocus on the meaning of the upcoming Christmas holiday. 

Try to make it to Mass with your children if you can. Talk to your family about the true story of St. Nicholas and how his life was a testament to generosity and charity. This is an especially helpful exercise if your family is having trouble staying focused on the real meaning of the Advent and Christmas seasons. Reminding them that the real Santa Claus is a symbol of Christian giving is a wonderful way to make sure they don't get too caught up in the excitement of "what they're getting for Christmas."

Keeping Christ at the center of Advent and Christmas can be challenging for both kids and adults. Remembering that St. Nicholas is, above all, a saint and a follower of Christ helps all of us to imitate him in his love and devotion to Jesus.

Be St. Nick For A Day

Give your kids—and yourself!—the chance to be St. Nicholas for a day and really put his spirit of giving into practice! 

Don't worry, you don't have to dress up or do anything complicated to imitate the spirit of St. Nick. Here's some simple ideas as to how to pull it off: 

- Help out at a food bank, soup kitchen, or another favorite charity.

- Take the family to visit a neighbor who lives alone. Bake some cookies to bring along, and offer smiles and good conversation to someone who might not get any at this time of year.

- Challenge each family member to do something kind for another member that day. (Collaborating is allowed! E.g., the kids can make dinner for the parents, etc.)

Celebrating The Saints

No matter the time of year, celebrating the saints of the Church—both the famous and the little-known—should be a part of our Catholic life. Not only do these feasts bring joy to our days, they also remind us of the friendship we have with the saints and encourage us to follow their example all year long.