St. Who?

When I was young, I heard about St. Nick and the practice of getting little gifts on the night of December 5. I just always thought this was something done in German and Scandinavian countries.

Imagine my surprise, then, when my family moved to Wisconsin. My children were 9, 6, and 6. The younger two still believed in Santa at the time. I went to work the morning of December 6, oblivious to the fact that my children were going to school and facing friends who'd had a visit from Santa the night before.

I heard several of my students talking about St. Nick, and one of them came to show me the necklace she'd gotten. "St. Nick?" I said. "Do your families celebrate that? How interesting." And then more students gathered around. "Well, yeah, everyone does. Why, don't you?" I began to wonder what my kids were experiencing at school.

After they got home, the twins went running around the house, looking for stockings. "Everyone else got something from Santa last night! Where did he leave our stuff?" And there I sat, their stunned mother, wondering how I was going to explain this one. I don't like to the kids, but when they were little, I would bend the truth as much as I could without lying.

I asked them to tell me what the other children had said. Then I said, "Well, you didn't get anything from St. Nick yet, and I think I can guess why. I wonder if Santa knew that this would be a new tradition for us and didn't want us to feel confused when we woke up this morning. So perhaps he let you learn about St. Nick's from the other kids and school, and maybe he figured he could bring something for you tonight, when you would understand." They seemed a bit anxious, but it settled them down.

As soon as my husband got home from work, I headed to Walgreens--where I saw huge "Get your St. Nick's gifts" signs. Seriously, how had I missed those? I got little candy and some Christmas items for the kids, and that night, St. Nick came to our house.

He left a note: "Dear M---, B----, and B--, I usually stop by Wisconsin homes on December 5, but I didn't want to confuse you since I knew you were new to this tradition. So I came by tonight. Merry Christmas!"

The next morning, the kids woke up, relieved that Santa hadn't forgotten them. I don't think they were quite as relieved as I was, though.

And even after eleven years, I still have no idea what makes an appropriate St. Nick's gift. Sigh.