St Nicholas Day, 19 December 2018
A greeting for the morning when children find something small under the pillow, and a word for the people who arrange it for children who have nobody.
A happy St Nicholas Day to every household with a child in it.
What I like about this day is its restraint. The gift is small by convention — sweets, a book, something that fits under a pillow. Nobody is competing. A parent who cannot spend much is not exposed by it.
And that modesty is exactly what makes the second half possible. Because the expected gift is small, hospitals, orphanages and children's wards can be covered by volunteers and small collections, and thousands of children who have no one arranging a pillow for them still wake up to something.
A holiday built on extravagance could not be extended that way. This one can, and every year it is.
To everyone doing the arranging tonight, quietly, for children who are not their own: this is the good part of December.
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