St Nicholas Surprise

5 January 2012

The children enjoyed a wonderful St Nicholas Day at Kindergarten before Christmas.

St Nicholas Day on the 6th December is a very special celebration in many European countries. Children hope that St Nicholas will visit and place a clean shoe, stuffed with hay and carrots for his horse, on their doorstep or fireside. St Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, prisoners and children. Born in the 3rd century A.D in what is now Syria, his life is woven with legend and associated with many miracles.

In Kindergarten, after a cold and busy morning playing outside in the garden, the children come inside to find that one of their slippers is missing.

“I can only find one slipper” exclaim the surprised children

“Ahhhhh it must be a one slipper day” the teacher explains.

The rest of the morning the children eat and play wearing only one slipper. After tidy up time the teacher opens the door to the next room to find a huge mess of hay and half eaten carrots. “What a mess!” she gasps. “Please could someone clean it up?”

She gives some children a dustpan and brush and the children happily start to sweep up the hay, only to find that a trail of hay and carrots (sprinkled with golden glitter and stars) leads into the cloakroom, then into the foyer and finally into the hall. And there are all the slippers! filled with oranges, nuts and dried fruit carefully wrapped in purple tissue paper.

The older ones remember from last year and soon have found their slipper. Soon all the children are sitting on the floor enjoying their gifts.