Today, December 6th, is Nikolaus in Germany. The evening before, thousands of children have put out a boot, hoping for Nikolaus to come by and fill it up. Nikolaus is pretty reliable and fills those boots with sweets and sometimes even more.
Kaefer - although a teenager now - still sticks to that tradition. She put out her rain boot yesterday - and it was filled this morning with orange fuzzy knee high socks, green fuzzy gloves and some chocolate.
When we first moved to this neighborhood, I introduced our tradition to my neighbors, bringing them a little something that they find in the morning of December 6th at their front door, when they go to get their paper. This year I decorated and filled up Starbucks frappuccino bottles (I never could just throw them away).
At Cost Plus World Market you can get typical German Christmas candy at this time (mainly chocolate and marzipan) and that is what I filled into these bottles. Some of our neighbors go the extra mile and "play" Nikolaus as well - this morning we found homemade peanut brittle, a Santa ornament and a bird ornament at our front door.
And there was something else. A tiny package, wrapped in red tissue paper and it had my name on it.
It was from Kaefer. She had made these cute owl earrings and pendant out of clay especially for me.
I feel so blessed. My heart is singing.
I just love those earrings :-) What a nice thing to do for your neighbors Carola.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely array of gifts! Yours to the neighbours are fabulous, and your daughter obviously takes after her Mum with her creative flair! Gorgeous owls!
ReplyDeleteI love this! Happy Nikolaus, Carola! Thanks for sharing your holiday with us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful tradition -- so sweet of you to share it with your neighbors! Love the shot of the starbucks bottles!
ReplyDeleteDear Carola, Thank you for your lovely message on my blog! Wishing you every success with your new online store too!! What a lovely tradition to give gifts to your neighbours. Your bottles look lovely and I am sure your neighbours appreciate it very much! The earrings that your daughter made look so cute and adorable!! What a beautiful present!! Wini xo
ReplyDeleteI like how every country has its own traditions to celebrate the december holiday month...
ReplyDeleteDear Carola,
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful idea to introduce your neighbours to our lovely feast of Nikolaus. I hope he left Knecht Ruprecht at home.
Advent is a wonderful time, full of candles and spiced cakes and Gluehwein.
Ich wuensche dir einen trauten Advent.
Lucky neighbors! The bottles are really wonderfully decorated.
ReplyDeleteRinda
need to remember this event so I can possibly add it to my new traditions... how sweet your daughter is!
ReplyDeleteI love this German tradition, Carola, as well as the Dutch celebration the day before. Kaefer really did you proud...just as you did her!
ReplyDeleteBTW, we went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Düsseldorf this past Saturday and had a fabulous sunny day enjoying another German tradition! :)