For the Love of Advent Calendars

Two traditions are strong in my house as soon as December makes an appearance. The first is that both of my children require Advent Calendars.

The kind that count down the days until Christmas and behind every door is a piece of chocolate. These have long been a family tradition and pretty hard to come buy when you live in a small town. My mom and my sister usually find these wonderful little calendars at World Market and make sure to buy for several friends children as well.

The second tradition is St. Nicholas Day. Now we are not Catholic if that is your first thought, but instead I attribute it to my German roots. My mother grew up with traditional St. Nicholas as a child in southern Germany. In turn, I was raised to write my letter to St Nicholas on December 5th of every year and place it in my boot (or actually we would use my dad's boots because they were much bigger) at the front door.

The next morning our letters would be gone and our boots had small goodies in them. My mom always included the traditional fruit and nuts in ours along with a small gift.

The girls wrote their letters and Regan's was wonderful making sure to ask after St. Nicholas and he was before asking for her three items. She even encouraged him to take a vacation after the holiday season and to keep those reindeer coats shiny with hair supplements. Rebecca's letter got straight to the point detailing items she deemed appropriate to ask for Christmas.

I should add that with all of Regan's gushing she asked for uber expensive items that she will not get i.e. a laptop, a cell phone, and a vacation to Disney. Rebecca's note in all of it's starkness covered a dvd, board games, and clothes. She is ever the practical one.

I can't wait to put them in their boots at the door and see what happens.

What holiday traditions start off your Christmas season?