St. Nicholas Eve

Tonight is the eve of St. Nicholas Day. Nicholas was born in Lycia, which is now part of Turkey. Legend says he was a kind and generous man, who protected the poor and did many great deeds.

In Holland St. Nicholas is called Sinter Klaas (he is the original Santa Claus). Children in Holland leave their shoes by the fireplace on this night, and in the morning they are filled with marzipan and small toys. Also, Sinter Claus often leaves larger gifts tonight or during the next day.

When my children were younger, we read stories about St. Nicholas, and celebrated with the shoes and gifts because- well, why not?? Any excuse for giving gifts and eating chocolate is a good one! 

Now, my children are grown; no more shoes to fill. Today, I look instead for opportunities to fill my heart- with kindness, generousity, and the joy of giving.  All I need to do is wake up, and become aware of the people around me: Every encounter with another person is an opportunity to give a gift of patience, acceptance, and unconditional love. These have no cost, and will bring me closer to grace.

Agenda today:
1. Joy of Giving meditation: 
Center and open my heart. Think about all I have to offer- my time, my love, skills, information and wisdom, patience, smiles, and the things I make with my hands. Just imagine giving these things to everyone I meet, and feel the joy of giving fill me in return.

2. Journal:

Elephant we found  for Toys for Tots.

How can I be a generous giver and a gracious receiver? 
How can I determine the right gift, the perfect gift, for each person? 
Also, how can I get all those gifts, and retain the peace and lightness I want for myself this season?

3. Donate a toy to Toys for Tots:
Any small, secret kindness is a gift from St. Nicholas. We went as a couple to shop for a toy, and felt again the gentle elation of choosing the perfect gift, and offering it to an anonymous child.

4. Make pfeffernüsse:
In Holland children get pfeffernüsse on St. Nicholas eve, but we always got them closer to Christmas, from our German neighbor, Bill Rueter. Bill brought us a small bowl of these every Christmas when I was young. 

Pfeffernüsse means “pepper nuts”, and they are supposed to be as hard as nuts! To eat them you need to suck on them until they soften. They improve with age- they get harder- so make them well in advance. 

This recipe comes from Bill Rueter's Grandma Ott.

One full batch- 150 cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. dark Karo corn syrup
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2-Tbsp. anise oil
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. each of cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and black pepper
• many cups of flour

Yield: 150 small cookies-

1- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. 

2- Mix together all the ingredients, and add flour until the dough is very, very stiff. Grandma Ott said, “When you are sure it’s stiff enough, add some more.”  When you can’t stir any more in, use your hands to kneed it in.

3- Form the dough into logs, and then roll one log into a thin rope. Break the rope into small bits and roll these into balls about 1/2-inch thick. (If they are too large, they will be hard to suck on.)

4- Place the balls close together but not touching on a greased cookie sheet. You should be able to easily fill two pans. 

5- Bake 10-12 minutes- the cookies should be cooked through and lightly browned. If you added enough flour, they will be soft at first, but get hard pretty quickly.

Check out this story about St. Nicholas’ donkey and the pfeffernusse.

5. Make soap:
Today is a good day to start to stockpile small gifts to give to neighbors and friends. 

We made soap balls with small toys in the center- an easy and fun gift to make.

Supplies:

• white castile or clear glycerine soap
• soap colorants
• grater
• small toys
• warm water
• a plate

1- Choose a small toy.

2- Grate a bar of soap bars into shavings.


3- Add a small amount of coloring to the soap shavings and stir with a fork, then add a small amount of warm water and work the color in with your fingers.

4-  Begin to mold the soap around a toy until you have a nice snowball shape, adding more shavings or water as needed.

5-  Place soaps somewhere where they can dry, then wrap in plastic.