It's the most wonderful time of the year! In our family we really love Christmas! We love putting up our Nativity, the stockings, decorating the tree, watching Christmas movies, reading Christmas books... it really is all magical! With Abigail having grown up in Hungary, and both of us living in Europe, we love incorporating European traditions as well.
One tradition that Abigail grew up on, is Saint Nicholas Day. While learning about Slovenian culture, we were thrilled to find out that Slovenia celebrates the same holiday, albeit in their own way.
In case you're not familiar, Saint Nicholas was a bishop in modern-day turkey in the 4th century. There are many stories about him, one of the most famous is about a poor man who had 3 daughters. He didn't have enough money to give them a dowry. At that time in history, there were no respectable ways for a young lady to earn a living. So, to help them out, but also to not embarrass them with charity, he brought them bags of gold, and placed them in their window during the night. (My mom found this great article that goes even deeper, if you're curious about finding out more about Saint Nick.)
From this story, the European tradition is, that children clean, and put their shoes out, awaiting for what Saint Nicholas will bring them. Usually, children get a gold switch, to remind them to stay out of trouble, and then goodies to reward them for their good behavior. This is also where we get our tradition of hanging stockings for Santa Claus to fill.
One of the reasons we love this holiday, is because it sufficiently separates "Santa" from the birth of Jesus. It allows us to do the Santa Claus thing, without feeling bad about it.
So, in our family, we love to celebrate Saint Nicholas Day, or in Slovenian, Miklavž.
We "shined" our shoes, placed them in front of the Christmas tree, and waited for Miklavž.
Then, Miklavž stopped by our house, and filled out shoes with chocolate and "Rocky" (which Aidan had asked Santa for when we saw him).
In the morning, we had a very happy little boy!
And, that's how we celebrated this European, and specifically Slovenian holiday!
Thank you for joining us in prayer and partnership this holiday season! We appreciate you!
Please feel free to comment your own family, or country's holiday traditions, we would love to hear about them!
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