St. Nicolas 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). He is the patron saint of children, sailors, innocents, and others in need. Children in Holland leave their shoes by the fireplace on this night (or sometimes all week), and in the morning they are filled with marzipan and small toys. 

Agenda today:

1. Joy of Giving meditation

2. Journal queries

3. Donate to Toys for Tots

4. Make pfeffernüsse

5. Deliver gifts

1. Joy of Giving meditation: 

Science shows that the act of giving increases neurochemical levels in the brain; the more we give, the happier we feel. And unlike other kinds of happiness, the joy of giving just keeps growing.

Today I will prepare my heart for this season of generosity and giving.

• Center, and open my heart. 
• Bring a picture to my mind of all that I have to offer - my time, love, skills, information and wisdom, patience, smiles, and the things I make with my hands. 
• When I begin to feel rich with blessings, breathe out my gifts to the universe.
• As I breathe in, feel the joy of giving fill me in return.

2. Journal queries:

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

How can I get all the right gifts, and still retain the peace and lightness I want for myself this season?

Journal: I'm trying hard not to buy too much new plastic, and we've been sharing the gift of projects together. We are going in together as a family for a few large gifts, and I'm making a few large gifts.

3. Donate to Toys for Tots:
Any small, secret kindness is a gift from St. Nicholas.

Saturday I found this cute puppy to donate, and felt again the gentle joy of offering my love to an anonymous child.

4. Make pfeffernüsse:

Dutch children get cookies called pepernoten on St. Nicholas Eve. Holland actually has two types of pepernoten: the traditional soft and chewy ones and the crunchy ones which are like German pfeffernüsse, and are technically called kruidnootjes (spice Nuts).

When I was young we always got pfeffernüsse closer to Christmas, from our German neighbor Bill Rueter. Bill brought us a small bowl of these spicy cookies 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 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. Deliver gifts:

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!

Even though my children are grown, and have left home, I have a few small gifts to leave at their doors. This year I'll follow the Swiss custom of bundling all the gifts for each family together into a bag.

The most traditional St. Nicholas gifts are:

• Chocolate gold coins, symbolic of the coins Nicholas dropped down a chimney for three poor women.
• Tangerines were first imported to Holland in the early 1800s, becoming the "apples of orange" from Spain, and came to represent the gold St. Nicholas had given to the poor girls.
• Candy canes- really candy croziers- bishop's staffs- like St. Nicholas holds.

Here are a few other facts about St. Nickolas Eve in Holland:

• Presents today are often wrapped in deceiving ways, such as a small box nested inside larger boxes, or something hollowed out with a gift inside, and are usually given anonymously.
• At Sinterklaas parties or in families, each person will pull a name from the hat, then they have to make a surprise present for that person, often things that the person would find useful with their favorite hobby.
• Presents today often come with a poem inside that gives a clue to who might have sent the present. The poem should rhyme and is read out loud by the recipient, and is often used as way to score points and poke gentle fun.