Happy St. Nick's Day!

What?! You've never heard of St. Nick's Day? Well... I mean... outrageous... come on... erm... honestly I'm not surprised. I was pretty much the only kid out of my friend's who celebrated St. Nick's Day growing up.

St. Nick's Day happens on the 6th of December when St Nick visits and leaves small presents in your stockings. St. Nick actually gave me my first beanie baby!

Derby the Horse: My First Beanie Baby. I snuck him into school that day to show my friends.

St. Nick's Day is predominately celebrated in the Midwest by families with strong Central/Eastern European ties. With my mom's family being strongly Ukrainian and Polish and dad's family being German (plus growing up in the Milwaukee area), they brought the tradition with us to Florida. 

It celebrates the feast day of St. Nicholas, who lived in the village of Patara (now the Southern coast of Turkey) during the third century. While there are many versions of his story, the main gist is that he gave to the poor and hungry and protected those who needed protecting, and St. Nick's Day is meant to preserve the stories of his generosity.

The main question I get from people is "What's the difference between Santa and St. Nick?" While Santa Claus is also based on the image of St. Nicholas, he has morphed into someone much flashier and bigger what with the North Pole, elves, reindeer and that sleigh.  If you still don't realize the difference, these chocolates should help:

Santa Claus (left) and St. Nick (right)

So St. Nick's Day is meant to be simpler and celebrate the life of St. Nicholas himself, while Christmas brings you the jolly rotund man whose nine slave reindeer carry him through the air in what I'm sure is a very heavy sleigh.

In any case, Happy St. Nick's Day everyone!