St. Nicholas Day Eve

Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Nicholas or simply St. Nicholas Day. This is our first time celebrating it and I have to admit that I have really had fun so far and now know more about the man behind the white beard.
We have been reading stories about St. Nicholas and talking about him.
Anyways, here are some pictures around the house!

I got the tree up today so it will be ready for Alison's new ornament...couldn't get the top to light so hopefully Chris will be able to fix it when he gets home. And that glaring light in the background is not a reflection of the flash; its a lamp that Alison broke the shade on, so its basically a light bulb on a stick.

Our advent calenders! 
Mommy's, Alison's and Daddy's.

I am particularly excited to share this with you!
It's our new decoration this year and I love it!

Close up of the nativity.
I've always wanted a German Pyramid but they are a little expensive I was thrilled/giddy/ecstatic to have found this one in perfect condition at a thrift store! ($10!)

 We used some of Alison's birthday money to get her this little piano (the rest we put in savings) and it came today! I set it up while she was taking her nap and when she came downstairs, it was love at first sight. She spent *hours* sitting at this little thing banging away on the keys and singing.

Our little musician <3 

 I made a batch of cookies for tomorrow.
Alison and I did some 'quality assurance', we checked and double checked and are pleased to announce that the cookies passed!

Outside of the sleeping toddler's door, St. Nicholas came and left a small bag of chocolate coins, a couple oranges (one is in the boot), a new Christmas ornament, and a chocolate Santa.

Mommy put her and daddy's shoes out too!
They must have been good this year because they got chocolate and oranges too!
Daddy even got a chocolate orange!

We are picking Caiden up from daycare tomorrow and he is coming over (we are so excited about having him over for St. Nicholas Day!!) So we left out an extra pair of Alison's shoes for Caiden, it looks like he got chocolate, oranges and instead of an ornament he got a little wood puzzle! (under the shoes). We also left out a little wood bowl out for Caiden's mommy and daddy.

Next year I would like to incorporate Advent but since we are traveling this year and are already celebrating a few new holidays I thought it would be best to wait. But one of my favorite blogs Frontier Dreams, is celebrating advent in a really beautiful way. click.

Waldorf does advent with a week each for rocks and minerals, plants, animal kingdom and then mankind. (I believe that's how it goes!) Anyways it's something to look forward to next year.