Thursday, December 5, 2013

St. Nicholas Day

We enjoyed our St. Nicholas Day celebration today.  We open our stockings on this day rather than Christmas.  We think it spreads the fun out through the month more!  Since Daddy was home due to sickness, we started opening some gifts when Kemie got home from work.  There was a reason I wanted them to open their "warm" gifts early.  They were waiting in anticipation....


Victoria guessed that it was a candle which really wasn't too farfetched from the shape and feel of the package.
 She was correct.  I had bought the four older girls Diamond Candles.  They guarantee a ring valued anywhere from $10 to $5000 in each candle.  You have to let it burn down a little in order to reach the ring so therefore the reason to open them early!
 Kemie's burned down the quickest so she got to reveal her ring first.  Everyone watched eagerly!
 A very lovely yellowish-green ring was found.  It was an interesting shape also.
 Hannah was next.  What would hers reveal?!?
 A lovely purple stone with cubic zirconia (or are they diamonds?!?!) was found.
 It wasn't until a little later in the evening that Victoria had decided she was done waiting 
and dug into her candle to find her ring packet. 
 She ended up with a very lovely dark green round stone with silver around it.
 Abigail followed Victoria's lead and dug hers out.  It was a clear stone (sorry, I didn't get a good picture of it)
After we got the candles burning, the girls made their gingerbread houses.  I had bought a kit with 5 little houses so they could each decorate one.  We had a few mishaps like pieces breaking where they weren't suppose to and walls falling completely down but with a little patience and help from Dad, things turned out well.  Kemie made a run for extra candy because we all know there is never enough in the kits!!


 Gretchen's finished product
 Victoria's
 Abigail's
 Hannah's

 And Kemie's grumpy old man house complete with a mustache!
The rest of the stocking presents were opened after a dinner of grilled bratwursts, sauerkraut and a yummy salad!  We drew numbers to see who went first so Daddy started off the fun and Mama finished it up.

Spicy chocolate for Daddy
 Excited for jelly beans!
 A bible for Abigail
 And notebooks for Victoria
 Hannah is happy about her Target giftcard
 but not happy she only got only 1 book of the back stories from Lord of the Rings.
 Kemie received a scroll telling the history of her name which comes from the Scottish surname of McKemie
 Mama received an iTunes gift card
 along with yummy chocolates!!
Victoria had a surprise for us all in that she had gotten gifts for us tonight also.  I guess you could say most of them fall in the "warm" category while some were the "yummy" category.  Daddy got gloves that allow you to still use your touchscreens.  The candy cane might be to get better reception.
 We had to close our eyes because she didn't have them wrapped.
 The big surprise was the Dr. Who shirts that she made for the other 3 older sisters.  The amazing thing was she had done them in a day and a half!!  I guess I won't complain too much about the time she hides in her room if she is being that creative and efficient!

 I fell asleep while waiting for her to bring mine over.
 I guess this could fall in the "wood" category but I will just say it is pretty!!

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