Saint Nicholas Day

Today is Saint Nicholas and he is still celebrated as a great gift-giver in several Central European countries. I realized I never blogged about it before although hubby and I are celebrating it every year.

As Romanian kids, we were taught that we have to clean our footwear and leave it near the windows on 5th December night when he is coming with gifts and sweets. For me this usually meant that a few days before it I was pestering my mother to buy me more shoes. For this day, I also count slippers as shoes.

The tradition says that if the kids are nice they will receive lots of sweet treats and small toys. If the kids are naughty, then Saint Nicholas will leave a stick (lets not get into details of what happens with the stick, I didn’t get any).

As hubby is making breakfast, I’m uploading the pictures on my blog. It seems that this year all three of us have been good. Although Festus would appreciate a stick too. On the loudspeaker I have the gift from Blogger Secret Santa.

So these are our gifts. A chocolate drill and paintbrush, a cookie cutter and a toy. The lipsticks are from my Secret Santa. I wanted to keep both gifts for Christmas, but I think I should open the small one, as today it’s a celebration too. If I’m honest, I couldn’t wait any more, that is the only reason. I am delighted with the lipsticks, I love both colours.

These are for Festus, doggy mince pies, snowman, a reindeer and a can of Salmon and raspberry. Hubby and I joked about it, as this is a “Masterchef dish for dogs”. He is watching Masterchef with us, only for a few minutes.

I bought these from a Christmas fair we’ve been to a couple of weeks ago. It was hard to decide, as there were so many options, but ended up with a drill for hubby as he is so keen on DIY and a small paint brush for me, as I use one often in my work.

This is the stand at the Ultimate Christmas fair. Lots of goodies to choose from, all vegetarian.

This is what hubby got for me. I am still debating if a huge cookie cutter is a present for me or a concealed gift for him, but I love it either way. I have to think carefully how I can cut the pastry with it and move it to the baking tray. It’s really huge.

This year I bought a Victorian Bilbo toy for my husband when we went to Sherwood forest . I found the Cup-and-ball in the gift shop and I couldn’t resist. We are playing with Victorian wooden toys every time we find them at National Trust.

Are you familiar with Saint Nicholas?