Feast of Saint Nicholas

Oh, the happy anticipation of five little faces at this sight! This year I found these great bags (meant to be for gift-giving bottles of alcohol!) but we found a lovely use for them in the form of St Nicholas stockings.

The children awoke to the golden bags with golden coins inside that remind us of the merciful deed of St Nicholas when he 'ransomed free' the three daughters who had no dowries and were to be sold into a far less than savoury life.

St Nicholas is that beautiful beacon or reminder to all christians the importance of corporal works of mercy as on judgement day we will hear the voice of Our Saviour ask us, "When did we feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit those in prison....?" For what we have done unto the least of His brethern, we have surely done unto Him.

Advent is a time to re-evaluate those important truths and find new ways to live them in our own lives and where we cannot do these things in person for whatever the reason, we can ALWAYS pray, pray for those in need.

The children were read a beautiful quote, that was on the ledge where the bags were hanging. A beautiful quote that Tolkien wrote to one of his sons:

“ Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament.... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves upon earth, and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the complete surrender of all, and yet by the taste [or foretaste] of which alone can give you what you what you seek in your earthly relationships [love, faithfulness, joy] be maintained, or take on the complexity of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man's heart desires. " [Letters p.53-54].

We once again, enjoyed the making of the traditional Speculatius biscuits, using the recipe from Cooking with Christ, with their sweet, spicy smell and taste.

I had bought a St Nicholas cutter and the St Nicholas paper the year before from the St Nicholas Center and so here is how they turned out - needless to say, they didn't last long!

We had our St Nicholas reading laid out and we thoroughly enjoyed the stories, especially from our new addition to the St Nicholas collection - Demi's The Legend of Saint Nicholas. What a wonder-worker this saint was and in true fashion to Jesus' promise that his followers would do even greater things in His Name (by His power.)

We are enjoying our daily Jesse Tree readings and craft making. We have added 3 more to the tree since the last photo - Abraham's symbol of camel and rider. Abraham's test, with the ram in the thorn bush. Jacob's ladder and dream.