Most of you know we didn’t do the Santa thing with our boys when they were old enough to start learning about Christmas. Instead, in addition to the birth of Christ, I’ve always told them about the real St. Nicholas and how we created the fun story of Santa Claus from a real person. (Somehow, probably from television, Jackson has decided that Santa really does bring him gifts, no matter how often Jeremy tells him Santa isn’t real. Currently, Jack has his heart set on a Smokey Pillow Pet, and apparently Santa is going to bring him one.)

Anyway, today is St. Nicholas Day, and it’s tradition that children (mostly in Europe) set out their shoes for St. Nicholas to fill with little trinkets and treats. After talking about the Real Saint Nick last week and this morning, the boys discovered that he “visited” us last night.

Don’t you love Jackson’s shirt? It used to belong to Chuck.

So what did St. Nicholas leave in the shoes?

You guessed it.

And though St. Nicholas left real gold coins for the poor, my little ones received chocolate.