December 6^th is the feast day for St. Nicholas among Catholic and Orthodox Christians around the globe. So a lot of children are scrambling around to get ready for him to come tonight.

As a child, have you ever put out cookies and milk for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve? That comes from a tradition many children will follow tonight around the world, to celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas, the bringer of gifts. For example, in the  Netherlands and Belgium, children put out a shoe filled with hay and a carrot for Saint Nicholas’ horse.

Nicholas of Myra is the real person behind our Santa Claus. He lived in the 4^th Century, studied under the Desert Fathers in Egypt, and became a bishop. One Christian legend is that he gave a poor father money to keep the man’s daughters from being taken into slavery, since the man had no funds for his daughters’ dowries. Nicholas threw the money through the family’s window. It landed in their shoes, drying near the fireplace.

Christmas is a time meant to focus not just on receiving, but on giving. Some children understand that, too. For example, in Poland and Germany, boys have traditionally dressed as bishops and begged alms for the poor. Back in the 11th Century, French and Belgian members of religious orders initiated the practice of giving the poor gifts in the name of Saint Nicholas. That tradition of generous giving to others continues to spread.

Your partner in ministry,

Betsy Schwarzentraub