Advent Week #2

I'm linking up with Beth Anne again this week to talk about Advent. I love these writing prompts because then I don't have to think of anything myself. ;-)

I'm going to talk about our St. Nicholas traditions, or more accurately, what I hope to make our traditions into. This year was really the first year that anything made a connection for Dominic I think. We put their shoes out the night before, and checked them first thing in the morning. I know we did this last year as well, but I don't think anything made a connection. We tried to talk about Saint Nicholas, but he had a hard time differentiating between him and Santa Claus. He kept saying it's "Sainta claus's birthday!" Part of this is because I haven't been able to add saints into much of our religious education; I'd say that this is likely because I struggle to think of specific saints' feast days. I have tried to do something on the boys' name saints' feast days, but I find it hard to think of. Perhaps this is because I'm a convert, and while I totally understand and appreciate the celebration of saints' feast days, it's still a little foreign to me and is definitely not a big part of my faith. I also find it difficult, because most of what you see to do with kids is coloring pictures or something and our boys are not into coloring. I keep thinking that eventually I'll find the best way to introduce saints to the boys. Perhaps that is what Saint Nicholas' feast day can be for us. A small introduction.

This year I did chocolate coins for Dominic and daddy and a few Oreos for Christopher, along with a slinky for each boy. Nothing big, but something that will stand out as exciting. Well, I thought it would, but apparently it has been so long since Christopher had Oreos that he wasn't excited by them anymore. He did finally eat one part of a cookie a couple days later. That's a win! ;-)