Saint Nicholas Day with Kids: Shoes, Coins, and a Very Old Story
A shoe by the door, a coin in the morning, and a story worth keeping.
On the night of December 5, in much of the world, children leave a shoe or a stocking by the door. In the morning they find it filled with coins, chocolate, or an orange. That is Saint Nicholas Day, kept on December 6, and it is one of the gentlest family traditions in the Christian year.
Why a shoe, and why coins?
Both go back to the same old story. Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop, is remembered for secretly giving bags of gold to a poor family by night. Some later tellings say the gold landed in shoes or stockings left by the fire to dry. The coins and the round orange in the shoe are small echoes of that gold.
A simple way to keep the day
You do not need much. Here is a version that works well with young children:
- On the evening of December 5, have each child set out one shoe by the door.
- After they are asleep, fill each shoe with a few chocolate coins, a real coin or two, and a clementine or orange.
- In the morning, tell the story: a real bishop named Nicholas who gave in secret and asked that no one be told.
- If you like, talk about one small, hidden kindness each person could do that day, without being thanked.
The bishop behind the shoes
Children usually ask how Nicholas and Santa fit together, and the honest answer is a happy one: they are the same man, a long way apart. A bishop of Myra gave in secret in the fourth century, the Dutch kept his feast as Sinterklaas, and the sleigh and the North Pole came along much later. However you keep Santa in your house, the shoes hand children the older story as well, the one about a real man who gave and asked that no one be told.
A saint like this, every month
This is the sort of story in every issue of Saints by Mail: printed, reverent, and mailed to your door. A thoughtful gift for godchildren, families, and anyone who loves the saints.