St Nicholas Day, 19 December 2006
A greeting for the morning of the small gift, and a note on the one letter children write.
A happy St Nicholas Day to every house with a child in it.
The detail I learned this year is the letter. A child writes to St Nicholas, and the letter is not only a list of what they want. Traditionally it also accounts for the year: what they did well and what they did badly, written by themselves.
That is a remarkable thing to ask of a seven-year-old, and they do it, and the parents keep the letters.
A holiday that requires a child to assess their own conduct before receiving anything is doing more than distributing sweets. Whoever built that into it was thinking.
A good morning to your household tomorrow.
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