St. Nick's Day

Some of you may not have heard of St. Nick's Day. But here in Catholic Milwaukee, we celebrate St. Nick's Day on December 6. It is, of course, meant to honor Nicolas Cage. Or some dude who was alive a long time ago. My memory is a bit hazy on the origins. In any event, it's something Milwaukeeans celebrate, but apparently most (if not all) of the rest of the country is in the dark about this nice little holiday.

Here is a picture of our St. Nick's celebration:

OK, so this was not the way it was in our house. Let me count the ways. There were fewer persons in our house. None of us were dressed up as a character in a stupid Jane Austen novel (redundancy noted). No bearded saint-looking guy was present (at least visibly). No lame "tiny Christmas tree on a table" business in our house. And, most importantly, no freaky monster creature was peeking into the room (I hope).

Anyway, last night, the stockings were hung on the new mantle with care…and lo and behold, by Thursday morning, St. Nick had apparently been there!
As you can see, the presents were lovingly and skillfully (i.e., without staples) wrapped in newspaper. (St. Nick tries to leave as small a carbon footprint as possible, by not wasting resources on frivolous things like wrapping paper.)

Presents were unwrapped after I got home from work, because I leave for work before Lee and Elsa wake up. (I never, never, never wake up Elsa—or Lee—if I don't need to.) Elsa tried to go for the stockings ... at least she did once we pointed her in that direction.

Oh, presents!

Elsa received two board books (one covering poodles).

She also got a shirt that says "Snow Bunny" and (no doubt her favorite gift) a slice of ham. Hammmm! St. Nick almost got her a Packers cheerleader outfit, but he must ultimately have decided that the $25 would be better spent on something she would wear more than once (and, of course, Elsa prefers baseball and college basketball).

Belle received some doggie treats, because she is such a good professor.

But it was Lee, the one grown-up, who must have been the best girl all year. After all, she had the biggest haul (at least in number of presents, however odd they may be): tomatoes, a mozzarella log (to go with the tomatoes), flowers, a lens cap for her camera (the lack of which has been causing St. Ni….I mean, me, great consternation), and chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzels.

That last present might have been more for me than Lee. Perhaps St. Nick noticed that I didn't have a stocking. I'll be sure to have one next year so that I don't miss out on such fun!