About St. Nick (no pics!)

After all this set-up, I'd hate to leave my blog without a follow-up. The suspense is tremendous - did we have a St. Nicolas Party? How did it go?!? Rest assured, we had a delightful celebration. But we did forget to take pictures.

It's interesting how a group of adults can become so thrilled with the 'playfulness' of tradition. Part of my St. Nicolas party tradition includes leaving gold coins (chocolate) in people's shoes for them to discover when they leave. Now, our apartment is not large. The door going out is right off of the living room where everyone was gathered for the party. It's hard to make a big secret about going into the hall with a lot of gold coins to spill coins in the shoes. The very first time someone left, I think there might have been some genuine surprise. But after that, people were clued in. And still, almost every time, there was evidence of delight when people found 'their' money in their shoe. People who arrived later, walked past shoes with glittering gold in them to enter the apartment, and continued to play along.

The 'kid' in us is not buried so far, I surmise. We still need some play time. That's what St. Nick is for me.

What better time for deliberate rest and play for students than the beginning of December - when papers and tests are due? When we're working so intensely, it's good to have regular outlets for play.

Speaking of working intensely, I'd probably better get going on my Theology of the Church paper. I'm writing about..... surprise, surprise..... sabbath-keeping and the church.