"That other magic guy came!"

Those were the words my 4 year old uttered to his brother this morning when he saw his stocking brimming with goodies! That "other" magic guy would be St. Nick, not to be confused in any way with "the" magic guy, Santa Claus!

As part of our German Catholic heritage, we celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas by hanging our stockings on December 5th for St. Nick to fill by morning. The filling is usually something simple, some candy, maybe a CD or some baseball cards or small toy, nothing too elaborate. For us it is a nice way to start the holiday season, kind of a kick off for the big day. The kids seem to appreciate the stocking "stuff" more in early December than in the midst of bigger gifts on Christmas day.

Cade was quite happy with the stuff the other magic guy brought him. Candy, baseball cards, a racecar, football and a tube of plastic animals. Of course he is counting the minutes until "the" magic guy shows up, and even corrected me today saying there are only 19 days left until the big day (I mistakenly said 20)!

Happy St. Nicholas Day to all!