{"id":3845,"date":"2015-12-03T23:38:27","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T23:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oshetablogs.wordpress.com\/?p=3845"},"modified":"2015-12-03T23:38:27","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T23:38:27","slug":"st-nicholas-day-at-the-moores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shalominthecity\/2015\/12\/st-nicholas-day-at-the-moores\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Nicholas Day At the Moore's"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"DeathtoStock_Holiday17\"$ <\/p>\n

So, Santa doesn\u2019t visit the Moore family<\/a>, but we\u2019re no Scrooges!\u00a0 We
\nlove the whimsy of the holidays as much as the next family. We just
\nwant to be incredibly thoughtful about how we steward our children\u2019s
\nimaginations and the messages we communicate\u00a0 when we give at
\nChristmastime. This is why we celebrate St. Nicholas Day, a
\ntraditional Advent feast day on Dec. 6th<\/span><\/span> that honors St. Nicholas, the
\nBishop of Myra.<\/p>\n

$\"Saint_nicholas_icon\"$ <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a little bit about his story:<\/p>\n

St. Nicolas was the Bishop during the fourth century, who lost his
\nparents when he was young, leaving him orphaned, but with a large
\ninheritance.\u00a0 Instead of spending it all on himself, he used his
\nmoney to help the poor, especially children.<\/p>\n

One story my kids love about St. Nicholas is how he gave to a
\nfamily in need in the middle of the night. When he found a
\nfather in his community lost his job and ability to provide a
\ndowry for his daughters to ensure their future, St. Nicholas decided
\nto do something about it. He put some of his own coins in bags
\nand while they family slept, he tossed the bags in their windows, saving the girls future and preserving the father\u2019s dignity. The customer of giving gifts on St. Nicholas Day originated in Europe as a way to commemorate the example of St. Nicholas and remind us to care for the poor.<\/p>\n

I love turning our gift- giving energy towards celebrating a life that
\nreflects the generous heart of God. One account I read about St.
\nNicholas that whenever someone thanked him he would point them back to God who is the giver of all good gifts. Saint Nicholas is a better
\nalternative to Claus because the star of the story is not a jolly
\ncharacter or extravagant gifts or even goodwill- it\u2019s Jesus.<\/p>\n

This Sunday<\/span><\/span> is St. Nicholas Day and we have three fun ways we
\ncelebrate that tap into the fun of Santa Claus but point to Christ-like generosity.<\/p>\n

1: We make a secret gift list<\/h1>\n
Santa is fun because he gives in secret, but so did Saint Nicholas and
\nthis practice of giving quietly lines up with Scripture:<\/p>\n
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
\n<\/span>Matthew 6:3<\/em><\/p>\n
The Friday<\/span><\/span> before St. Nicholas Day, we make a short list 3-5
\npeople who we want to secretly give to on Sunday<\/span><\/span>. My kids like to call
\nthis \u201cninja gifting\u201d because we get in and get out before they even know.
\nThis could look like leaving cookies on our neighbor\u2019s porch, or donating
\nto a friends\u2019 cause anonymously, or paying for someone\u2019s fast food
\nbehind us.\u00a0 We set our budget and go. This year we\u2019re sticking to the
\ncoin theme and leaving the exact change for washing and drying in four
\nof our complex\u2019s machines with a little note. I\u2019ll post pic of it to
\nInstagram.\u00a0 We do a more elaborate version of gift-giving on Christmas
\nDay with our pancake delivery, but on the 6th, we keep in simple and
\nsecret.<\/p>\n
2: Trader Joe\u2019s Coins<\/h1>\n
Trader Joe\u2019s has these cute bags of chocolate coins that are perfect
\nfor celebrating St. Nicholas Day.\u00a0 What I do is I buy three bags and
\nwhen the kids aren\u2019t paying attention,\u00a0 I hide them in their shoes at some point of St. Nicholas Day. It\u2019s a fun surprise for them. Plus, it\u2019s chocolate.\u00a0 What kids don\u2019t love chocolate?<\/p>\n
3: Dine on Oranges<\/h1>\n
Traditionally coins or oranges are given on Saint Nicholas Day, since
\nTrader Joe\u2019s takes care of the coins for me, I usually come up with
\nsomething to cook or bake with oranges in it. In years past, when I
\ndon\u2019t have energy to do a single thing, I put a bowl of oranges on the
\ntable for an after dinner snack. You can also, get orange chicken from
\nyour favorite Chinese restaurant (or Trader Joe\u2019s has a yummy, easy
\nalternative) for dinner that night. If you love to cook, maybe try out
\na Duck l\u2019orange, or some delicious baked good with oranges. Do you, Mama.\u00a0 Do you.\u00a0 We usually talk about St. Nicholas over our meal and challenge each other to be secret givers for the rest of the month. This is usually when we pull for sibling shopping assignments.<\/p>\n
This is how we celebrate St. Nicholas\u2019 Day in the Moore Family, but
\nthere are so many other ways to celebrate:<\/p>\n
Kristin Schell has some ideas on how to celebrate St. Nicholas in your<\/a>
\n \u00a0neighborhoods <\/a>and you should check out the St. Nicholas Center<\/a> for craft
\nand recipe ideas.<\/p>\n
Of course, if you still feel like Santa Claus is too important for your
\nfamily to give up, I understand- do you, Mama, do you, but may I
\nsuggest you balance your traditions with truth? Think of a few ways
\nyou could maybe scale back Santa to make room for gift-giving to the
\npoor or learning about examples of historically generous people.\u00a0 Instead of getting the Santa pic this year, could you buy a gift for a foster kid <\/a>and deliver it to the drop off box at the mall? Or what about calling a moratorium on Santa movies just for this year to make space for more Jesus stories?\u00a0 Ask the Holy Spirit what makes sense for you and your family.\u00a0 I\u2019m cheering you on from Los Angeles, while drinking my cocoa, and filling ziplock baggies of coins.<\/p>\n
Shalom and Trader Joe\u2019s Runs,<\/p>\n
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So, Santa doesn\u2019t visit the Moore family, but we\u2019re no Scrooges! We
\nlove the whimsy of the holidays as much as the next family. We just
\nwant to be incredibly thoughtful about how we steward our children\u2019s
\nimaginations and the messages we communicate when we give at
\nChristmastime. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3037,"featured_media":3881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,428],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Nicholas Day At the Moore's<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So, Santa doesn\u2019t visit the Moore family, but we\u2019re no Scrooges! We love the whimsy of the holidays as much as the next family. 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