Saint Nicholas Day and Other Thoughts...

Hi Guys,

So, tomorrow is Saint Nicholas day. Dec 6th. I never celebrated this as a child. My Mom is Chinese, and they are officially Communists which means there is no God, only Mao, or something like that. I think it has changed since the Cultural Revolution, but the Chinese still aren't nice to religious folks. Look at what they did to those poor Tibetan monks. You should ask my Mom and Dad about that. They were in China last year and had first hand experience with the Chinese intolerance of free...well...free anything, speech, thought... being. Anyways...my Mom isn't a communist. She grew up in Hong Kong which is so far from communism that it is on the totally opposite side of the political scale. So, my Mom attended a very prestigious Catholic school there. Now, I'm really not religious and I find it kinda weird that my Mom was taught in a Catholic school because she is not religious either. She has told me all sorts of funny tales of the nuns in that school, and how she was a rebel that skipped her baptism and various other ceremonies and how she always got into trouble for saying that God was a polygamist because he married all the nuns. It really is funny to think of your parents as anything other than your parents. They didn't have lives before you were born. Of course not! Mind you, I pine for my pre-kids days. Those were glorious days! So maybe my Mom was a different person before she had all 5 of us kids...hmmmmm....





Anyways, Saint Nicholas day. It's a European thing and they stole all the ideas from our North American Christmas thing. Really! The guy's name is "Sinterklaas " or "St. Nicholas". He goes around and checks to see if the children have been good that year. Sound familiar? And he uses a sleigh, but he uses horses, not reindeer. That's silly, cause horses can't fly. Rudolf makes much more sense. And he comes down the chimney with a little, dirty sidekick called "Zwarte Piet" or "Black Peter". The children are instructed to place an empty shoe beside the fireplace on the eve of Dec. 5th and in the morning, if the child has been good, they would receive chocolate and coins and taii taii, a yummy gingerbread cookie, and various other little presents. If the child had been bad that year, a lump of coal or rocks would be left in the shoe instead. Sounds pretty hinky to me. I think Santa Claus should sue for trademark infringements.


I've looked up Saint Nicholas day on Wikipedia and I did find some other practices that I think we as a family should start to implement as a annual tradition. You know, just to keep the brats in check. Apparently, in central Europe, round 'bout the Middle Ages, Saint Nikolaas was accompanied by an especially nasty sidekick called "Knecht Ruprecht" who would threaten to beat the children if they had been bad that year. No wimpy lumps of coals for those Medieval Germans. Some stories said that he would even EAT the really bad children. Whoa! That's venturing into Hansel and Gretel territory. That's a German thing huh? Eating children? Reminds me of Jonathan Swift and his "Modest Proposal". He was English, not German, but I think he must have had a German nanny or something. Mind you, might be a way to get through this time of economic troubles. Anybody have a good recipe for baby back ribs?

Have I gone too far? Sorry.

I love my kids and I love the idea of giving them presents for Medieval reasons I don't really understand. Frank is the German in our family. Actually, technically he's part Dutch and the other part is Austrian. Same thing I figure. Those Western European tribes have some pretty yummy food that they serve on holidays. Lucky friends and family have experienced a traditional Dutch/Austrian breakfast buffet that Frank lays out on groaning tables on Christmas morning. I love all the delicious pastries and smelly cheeses. Last year I even tried a little of the smoked horse meat. Sorry Ting. I know you think it is an abomination to eat horse meat, but it was kinda good, if a little salty.

Anyways, Frank directed me to a local Dutch deli and I went this morning after dropping the kids off at school. It was so cool. So many packages with funny writing on them. The umlauts abounded in that store! And the licorice. The awful, double salted, hard, icky black as tar licorice that stains your teeth, tongue and makes my mouth pucker and eyes water. Frank love them. He's German! What a contrary race!

So, we are celebrating Saint Nicholas Day tomorrow and the kids will be receiving some yummy treats (they've been pretty good this year). As a bonus, their friends from next door will be staying the night. Yah me! Last time we had a sleep over, Frank and I fell asleep at around 1 pm and the girls were still giggling. I think we are going to have to be tougher this time. Maybe remind them that "Knecht Ruprecht" could still make a visit.


Look at that guy! Kinda freaky huh? I wonder what he charges per hour. I'm looking for a babysitter.