Happy St. Nicholas Day!

I forgot all about St. Nicholas Day until this morning, when it was too late to put my shoes out (or to hide goodies in Aaron's shoes). If you've ever been my roomie, you've probably heard me talk about St. Nicholas Day. For the rest of you, let me tell you about it!

In Germany there is no Santa Claus, there is just St. Nicholas. And the whole stocking-stuffing thing doesn't exist there either. And St. Nicholas' big day is December 6, not Christmas Eve. So, on December 5th, German children are supposed to polish their shoes and set them outside the door. Overnight, St. Nicholas comes by and leaves small gifts in the shoes of the good children. The bad kids just get switches, which are left by St. Nicholas' evil sidekick whose name I forget. Switches, as in, "You're getting a beating now, kid!" not as in electric light switches.

When I lived in Germany in the late 80's and early 90's, kids liked to set out their biggest pair of shoes, namely their galoshes. (Aside: galoshes! What a fantastic word! Say it several times and just feel the goodness. Maybe say it rhythmically and do a little stomping dance to go with it.) Their parents would also sometimes leave gifts that were bigger even than their galoshes. I generally just got oranges and nuts and a Kinder egg.

This is one German tradition that my parents got right. There is another German tradition, that of the "Schultuete", that they didn't quite get right. The first day of grade one is a very very big deal in Germany. Amongst other things, kids get Schultueten, which are giant decorated cones of bristol board that tie up at the top with crepe paper. Inside is a whole bunch of candy and school supplies and little toys.

When we first moved to Germany, I was half way through grade one, and some of the little old church ladies took pity on me having missed my German Einschulung, so they made me a Schultuete in March. And they gave a mini-Schultuete to my little brother so he wouldn't feel left out. When I started grade 2, my parents gave both me and my brother small Schultueten again. And the next year. And so on. Tobin and I thought it was swell, and it never occurred to us that our parents might not have realized that the only time German kids got Schultueten was on their actual first day of grade one, and then never again. It was great.