Feast of St. Nicholas

Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas in our Catholic calendar of Things To Celebrate. St. Nick day is something we have observed since I was a child. You can read about St. Nicholas here. In our family's tradition (and that of many other families around here), we have always put out our stockings on December 5th, and on December 6th we would wake to find them full of goodies.

Growing up, we always put out our actual socks (the biggest one we could find, of course). "St. Nick" would fill them with chocolate candies and usually one little gift or trinket that we could play with while we were "patiently" waiting for Christmas to come.

We've decided to carry on the tradition with Olivia. She is, of course, too little for chocolate candies, so her stocking was filled with little wrapped toys. Mommy and Daddy each got one thing in their stockings, but Olivia got four gifts. That's how St. Nick works, you know. Kids get all the loot!

One of the joys of parenting a toddler is that they NOTICE things and are so interactive. From the moment she entered the living room this morning, Olivia noticed the little stocking sitting in front of the TV. She was entranced. She walked ever-so-slowly toward the stocking until we assured her that yes, it was for her and she could play with it.

She took great joy in ripping off small pieces of wrapping paper.

Ooh...letters. Fun!

She got two little dolls, a colorful soccer ball, and the package of foam letters. She was in heaven. It's very easy to please a one-year-old.