Last year, I shared 5 St. Nicholas books for Kids we love and I’m re-blogging it to link up with Call Her Happy’s 5 Favorites and Allison Gingras’s WorthReVisit Wednesday Linkup. Since it is now Thursday and no longer Wednesday (when did that happen?!), I’ll label this as a #ThrowbackThursday for some extra hashtag flair.
~ Five St. Nicholas Books for Kids We Love ~
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Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend
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Saint Nicholas
One of our family’s favorite traditions during Advent is celebrating St. Nicholas day on December 6. Growing up, we all set one shoe out on the fireplace the night before and in the morning, we woke up to a fun – and usually yummy – surprise in our shoe!
It’s so simple but it made a big impact as I still remember it so fondly. It has been fun carrying on the tradition with our own little family. St. Nicholas usually leaves simple candy or chocolate treats.
Every now and then, when God’s Grace is overly abundant on that particular day, I’ll do a little craft of some sort. But usually not because I’m not just not that type of mom – despite how much I’ve tried. And I’ve decided that I’m OK with that. It’s OK to DO LESS. However, if you have the talent and patience, Catholic Icing has a few fun ideas on how to celebrate this feast day with your kids. Here’s a new one added this year (2014) for turning those Santa chocolates into St. Nick.
I might not be crafty but, thankfully, I do know how to read and enjoy a good read-aloud book with the kids. Aside from the sweet treats in the shoes, St. Nicholas usually leaves a book about him for the kids to learn more about him. The books above are the ones we’ve collected from “him” over the years. They are all wonderful, I love all the illustrations, and they are especially helpful for navigating the tricky conversation about the difference between “Saint Nicholas” and “Santa.
**Fun Fact for the Day: “Santa” means “Saint” in Spanish and “Klaus” is German for “Nicholas”.**
Anyway, it’s been fun reading and learning about the different stories and legends and cultural customs surrounding St. Nicholas. Each book offers a different perspective but they all focus on the fact that St. Nicholas was a man who loved Christ and served Him in his life and continues to do so with his prayers in Heaven.
This year, I went to get our book for “St. Nicholas” to leave us this year but didn’t see anything new at the local Catholic bookstore. So instead I found…
How does your family celebrate and remember St. Nicholas’s Feast Day? What about Santa? Is “Santa” and “St. Nicholas” the same person in your family?
{P.S I intended to share this post earlier to give people time to order any of these if they wanted before St. Nicholas’s Feast Day this Friday, December 6. I’ve been ‘busy’ trying to use the computer less and focus on prayer and quality time with my family. That said, if you have an 
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I love all the books on your list, except one! I found A Special Place for Santa a few years ago on clearance at a craft store and picked it up. I was so excited about my thrifty find. Then, I read the book. I found it painful to get through! I thought it was too much detail and not well written. I’ve kept it (because the ideas are good!!) and would read it if my son selected to have it read to him, but did not put it in our “regular” rotation this year.
I’m def. going to check out An Omelet Fit for a King. Thanks for the recommendation!
Welcome, Beth. Thanks for your comment. I agree, that one is a little wordy. I have a hard time finding good books from the Catholic/Christian perspective of St. Nicholas so I leave them all in the basket so the kids have a few options. Our oldest daughter (almost 11) is now in on the “secret” and my 8 year old is asking a LOT of questions lately so that’s been very challenging. Are there any St. Nicholas books you have that aren’t on this list?
Erika,
So happy to have you join us this week at Worth Revisiting Wednesday! 🙂 I have read your posts before, and love the look of your site. I have the 3rd book on your list and have read it with my own kids as well as my CCD classes. There is a another book I love that I would also suggest: The Candymaker’s Gift- Legend of the Candy Cane.
Hi Elizabeth, welcome! Thank you so much for you’re kind comments and welcoming me to the link up. It’s a great way of blogging when I’m feeling lazy. 😉
I haven’t heard of the Candymakers
Gift. I’ll get that for next year. Today I went out to the local Catholic book store and found a coloring book and graphic novel about St. Nick.
Come by again soon!
P.S. I’ve seen your blog for a while too and will visit more often.