St. Nikolaus

Christmas always seems to sneak up and surprise me with being much nearer than I thought. It's not like I didn't get enough warning. Decorations in shops are up since the middle of November but I"m good at ignoring it. I always feel the start of December is early enough to start planning for Christmas and of course I'm always wrong. Maybe it's a relic from my childhood when December seemed endless and the little boxes on my Advent calendar were so numerous that I kept losing count. Now that I'm older 24 days are going by in a blast.

But I'm quite happy to report that I finally managed to be a bit more organized this year. For a start I judged more realistically how many presents I would be able to make myself and planned accordingly. Ok, there are still some unfinished projects but I'm not stressing over them.  I've also posted severals parcels and cards this afternoon which I'm really proud of. There's still a few more to write but most of them are done.

We've also baked some gingerbread and christmas cookies. Aidan had a lot of fun kneading the dough and licking the spoon. I was a bit worried letting him stand on the chair but he was a very good boy and was happy as long as he had something to do. Though he's still a bit young, I like to get him involved, especially when it's old German traditions like baking "Weihnachtsplätzchen". I have so many good memories of baking with my mum, sisters and aunt when we were young.

There's so many beautiful traditions around Christmas in Germany. It's something I really love about my home country. As I'm writing this, German children are placing their boots outside their doors for Nikolaus to fill them with gingerbread, nuts and fruits. The tradition can be traced back to a 4th century saint who gave plentifully to the poor. In the end, Santa Claus is none other than St. Nikolaus, though he did go through a few metamorphoses.