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So Monday December 6th is St. Nicklaus' Day. As children my Mother would make us leave shoes in the window on the night of December 5th and when we awoke we would find treats placed in the Shoes to which we would share amongst ourselves. Obviously m our Mother filled them, but you get the idea

I looked into the history behind this tradition and as with all Christmas traditions it has many a wonderful story to it.

One such article here:

One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.

Christmas is amazing if you look past the billion TV adverts starting in September for Christmas stuff and ignore the aisles full of tinned chocolates and plastic toys in the supermarkets. I have tried to bring each year a little something other than a pile of pressies, loads of food to Christmas for my Kids. It seems to be working too, my Son has asked everyday this week if its time to put his shoes in the Window, well, actually Wellingtons, my Son has figured if he puts wellies in the window he will get more treats as they are bigger than his shoes