Happy St. Nicholas Day!

I have always loved St. Nicholas and today is his feastday! In the Orthodox church, Nicholas is especially beloved.

I don’t actually do anything special for St. Nicholas Day, except express a heartfelt greeting to the saint, thanking him for his example and then asking him to pray for my kids and that my own heart may be generous, but then I talk to Nicholas often throughout the year, so he knows how much I like him! In the Liturgy of the Hours and at Mass today we also recognise the holy man.

Somehow, these feastdays in Advent seem especially joyous to me, whether they be the great Marian feasts coming up on the 8th and the 12th or this remembrance of a great bishop who has come to symbolize all that is joyful and generous in the season surrounding The Nativity.

Fausta also seems to like St. Nicholas. There are certain traditions attached to the feast. Basically my tradition on this day is to go to the only “Nicholas” I know – he sells the greatest coffee to be found in my county, and possibly the world – and wish him a happy on his Name Day.

He never gives me free coffee for it, but that’s okay!