St Nick isn't Santa Claus.

When I was a little girl, St. Nicholas left me small gifts every December 6th. The tradition in our north side of Chicago Slovenian community (there are many ethnic variations on this tradition) was that the night of December 5th, every child in the house got to pick out a pan (I always picked the roaster because it was the biggest) and leave it on the kitchen table. That night, while you were sleeping, St. Nicholas would come in to the house and full your pan with small goodies. In the morning my pan would be filled with whole walnuts, really big and beautiful oranges and apples, a pomegranate, chocolates, and small treasures like coloring books and hair pretties. I loved it. It was so much fun to get gifts (even if they were small) so close to Christmas. Now that my little guys are old enough, I am starting this tradition with them this Monday.

I had been planning on giving the boys Waldorf doll superheros for Christmas...but then I had a thought. They get so many gifts from friends and family that my hand-made presents might get lost in the shuffle. Maybe it would be a better idea to let St. Nicholas bring them some little superhero guys, with matching boy sized capes and masks, avoiding the insanity that is the gift-giving season.

It breaks down like this: I have the first doll done (as I've posted about here) and the second doll is almost complete. I just need to crochet his hair. Sweater #1 is all knitted up and sweater #2 needs sleeves and is very close to completed. Now I just have to get through the sewing. For both dolls, I have little corduroys, masks and superhero capes left to make as well as big boy sized capes and masks. It seemed like a fun idea to make matching superhero gear for the kids and I found a really fun cape tutorial here. I think I'm going to invent my own pattern for the masks...I'll fill you in on that next week.

A pile of stuff I need to make!

So, it has been very busy here at chez Ooo! Shiny! this week. Holiday crafting is in full force. I also have the second little holiday sweater well underway. The back is all knitted up and I have about 50% of the front left to do. I'm feeling pretty good about getting it done before the celebrations start.

Bogie's sweater in progress.

 Whew, it will be so nice when it is all done!

–Cassandra

P.S. Some of you may be wanting to know more about St. Nicholas day. For those of you who aren't familiar with St. Nicholas, here is a quick history from Wikipedia. And here is a wonderful site about international traditions. Enjoy!