Nikolaus, Nikolaus Bim Bam Boom

Happy St. Nick's Day!!
The girls were excited to wake up this morning and find their boots full of goodies.


In this post here, I described a bit better how the girls' school celebrates Nikolaus Tag. There is an exciting visit from Nikolaus himself who comes bearing gifts for each classroom that has been good. I will have to try to get some video of Rebekah singing the Nikolaus songs (it's where the Bim Bam Boom in the title came from and it's funny). She's a little camera shy lately, but it's so cute ~ even though I can't understand hardly any of the German she sings.


I thought his shopping cart converted sled was cool.























It's nearly impossible to take pictures because there's so many kids crowded in the gym and everyone is giddy with excitement over seeing Nikolaus, but I couldn't resist stopping by to see our little cuties.

A great book about Nikolaus is A Gift From St. Nicholas by Cristine Bolley. My mom got it for the girls right around the age that Alyssa started asking about Santa Claus: was he real? Does he really bring gifts? Why do some of my friends seem to know more about him than I do? How could he get to everyone's house on the same night etc... As someone who believed in Santa until an embarrassingly old age I didn't have the heart to completely pull the rug out from underneath the legend. At the same time, I wanted her to understand that a legend about a jolly, bearded man in a red suit has nothing to do with why we celebrate Christmas. The book has been a sweet answer to all the girls Santa questions. The story comes in the form of a letter from St. Nicholas and attempts to explain where his heart was in giving gifts in the first place. His passion to give away most of his inherited wealth by giving to others was a response to God's greatest gift and the story puts the focus and joy of Christmas where it belongs. I love it.