Yahoo! Mikulas!

Yesterday we set our boots out on the windowsill in anticipation of St. Mikulas' arrival with goodies to fill our boots.

Who is St. Mikulas you ask?  Here's a good explanation...

Bishop Mikuláš lived in the fourth century and was famous for his generosity, especially to children and the poor. The 6th of December then became a holiday in his memory.

So all the good Slovak children can expect to wake up to a boot full of chocolates, sweets and fruit. However, Saint Mikuláš is always accompanied by the Devil and an Angel and the naughty children may be left only with cheeks marked with black coal – a little present from the devil.  (source)

So we decided to follow suit and join Slovaks for this fun day.  We chose our boots (Well, Jas chose them all...notice how he found my biggest boot...I think Mikulas outdid himself this year ;) and set them out and when we woke up yesterday morning they were filled with treats!  Exciting!

Elise didn't have a boot, so we went with a cute sewn shoe made by her Grandmommy.

And since Mikulas couldn't fit all of Elise's treats in her tiny shoe, he decided to fill an old wipe box (of course it was clean) with the rest of them.  What a clever guy, that Mikulas!

Oh my, Mikulas knows the way to my heart too.  That Milka chocolate Mousse was a-ma-zing.

To top it off, Elise's awesome Aunt Marianne sent a sweet Mikulas day present for E...

See those little puppet guys and that onesie?  Yep, all courtesy of the aunt.  Too cute.  Thanks, Marianne!

Oh, and I guess no-one in our house was naughty this year, because we didn't wake up with cheeks marked by coal.  I jest...we are totally sinners and deserve more than coal marks (death), but I'll happily take God's grace over death any day...and I'd most definitely choose chocolate over coal also ;)

So that's how we celebrated December 6th.  Now speaking of chocolate, there's another bar calling my name.  Better run...