The winner is…Sillie!
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I spent time in Germany when my kids were young, and we adopted some of the local traditions. A couple of my favorites involve the night of December 5th…

Krampusnacht

Krampusnacht (Krampus’s Night) occurs the night before the St. Nicholas Feast on December 6th. He arrives at night, carrying a bundle of twigs to swat misbehaving kids. Krampus comes to scare kids into being good—a kind of twisted Santa’s Little Helper. Our family will probably watch the Krampus movie sometime soon.

Nikolaustag (St. Nicholas Day)

This is what we actually celebrate! On the evening of December 5th, the kids leave their shoes by the door. Santa comes sometime during the night to leave gifts in the shoes. If the child has been good this year, they get something they like. If they’ve been bad, they get a lump of coal. The past couple of years, my daughter has insisted I leave my shoes out because I’m the biggest kid in the house. 🙂

St. Nicholas Day is the official start of the Christmas holiday season, and in some parts of the world, there’s a feast to celebrate St. Nicholas of Myra, a priest who gave to the poor.

So, a question. Were you aware of either of these holiday traditions? Would they be ones you’d want to integrate into your family’s holiday fun? Leave a comment for a chance to win a download of your choice from among my backlist of books!