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Good Morning! It is a sunny, but icy cold day on this December 6th. We got about 2 inches of snow last night. Seems as if Winter is here to stay! December 6th is St. Nicolaus Day in Germany or Sinter Klaas Day in The Netherlands. Kids hang up their stockings on the fireplace or put their boots up for St. Nicolaus to bring a little present. It is usually some sweets and/or a little toy, just to shorten the time they have to wait until Christmas. When my son was just a toddler, he crawled out of bed VERY early to see what St. Nicolaus had brought him. Unlike in the US, children get their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. As soon as it turns dark, Father Christmas (we don´t call the gentleman Santa) comes to each house, not to be seen by the children, who have to stay in their rooms. December 24th has always been a special day in my family. In the morning, my father put up the Christmas tree, which was always some undertaking for him. After that was done, he prepared the candles for the tree. For years, we had real candles on our tree! After lunch, we kids had to go into our rooms and stay there! As you can imagine, tension was running high. The living room door was locked, and the keyhole was covered. After endless hours a little bell was rung, calling us to assemble in front of the living room door. We started to sing Christmas carols and the bell rang a second time - we were allowed to come in! The room was filled with the warm light of the candles on the tree, but we usually only had eyes for the presents. I took a lot of persuasion from my parents to make us sing a few more Christmas songs, before we were allowed to open the presents! In the meantime, my Mom had fixed dinner, a very special dinner, which was only served on Christmas Eve. It took two days to prepare! I have to admit I did not like it very much. After dinner, we took a last glance at the Christmas tree and were sent off to bed, while my parents went to attend the midnight mass at church. In later years, we went with them. All of this is just fond memories today. We don´t have real candles on a tree, we don´t even have a tree. That special dinner cannot be prepared, as  the ingredients are not available anymore. And, instead of singing Christmas songs, we listen to a recording. How much I miss the old days... Chloe, as it is shivering cold outside, I´ll go for a mug of hot chocolate and a sweet roll, please. Have a good day! <a href="http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv185/SirMadig/P1070052.jpg"><img src="http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv185/SirMadig/P1070052.jpg" alt=" " border="0" /></a>
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