St. Nickolas 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! The Dutch give simple gifts tonight, but they are often accompanied with riddles, or wrapped in deceiving ways, such as a small box nested inside larger boxes, or something hollowed out with a gift inside.

Now, my children are grown, and I don't usually have the opportunity to fill their shoes. Today, I look instead for opportunities to fill my heart- with kindness, generosity, 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 your heart. 
• Bring a picture to your mind of all that you have to offer- your time, love, skills, information and wisdom, patience, smiles, and the things you make with your hands. 
• When you feel rich with blessings, breathe out your gifts to everyone you might meet.
• As you breathe in, feel the joy of giving fill you in return.

2. Journal:

How can I determine the right gift, the perfect gift, for each person? 

This Year's Toy for Tots is a sweet little bobcat!

How can I get all the right gifts, and still 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. Today I will look for a special gift, and feel again the gentle joy of offering my love to an anonymous child.

4. Make pfeffernüsse:
In Holland children get pfeffernüsse on St. Nicholas eve, but when I was young 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 a child. 

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. 

One full batch- 150 small cookies.

This recipe comes from Bill Rueter's Grandma Ott.

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. Fill shoes:

Even though my children are grown, I still have some shoes here to fill. I have a few small gifts, and I have candy canes.

Candy canes are really candy croziers- bishop's staffs- like St. Nicholas holds. A crozier is hooked at the top like a shepherd's crook, showing that a bishop is a shepherd who cares for his people.