December 24, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – T’was the night before the feast of St. Nicholas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring … well, perhaps there was a mouse.
Over the past 15 years of LifeSiteNews, my family has frequently had to fend for themselves when I have been called away to speaking engagements. And so, on that particular year, some years ago now, my wife was with our then-seven children on a cold and busy December 5.
Having a little Dutch in my background is reason enough for our children to follow the tradition of putting out their shoes or stockings on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas – which is celebrated on Dec. 6th – in which they receive little gifts.
Our tradition till that fateful year had been to wait till very late at night to fill stockings with little trinkets and fruit, nuts or candy. However in my absence, the dinner, night routine and cleanup had left my wife all but exhausted after her day of homeschooling the children while tending to the baby.
With a prayer for the impossible, and after searching in vain for some fruit or nuts, some candy or chocolate, she thought wearily, “Well, we’ll just have to skip it this year.” And that’s when it happened.
There came a knock at the door. And when my wife opened the door, there stood a friend bearing gifts, asking where the children’s shoes were.
To which my wife replied, “We didn’t put out our shoes this year. We didn’t think St. Nicholas would come.” She was about to explain how with my being away and being left without a vehicle she hadn’t had the opportunity to shop.
But the kind friend at the door interrupted with a smile saying, “Ah but, St. Nicholas always comes.”
With that my wife scurried away to find the required shoes so that the kind sir could fill them.
In the morning, the children, particularly the older children who had been forewarned by a weary Mama that St. Nicholas may be a few days late, were positively perplexed at the sight. Gold and red foil-covered chocolate Santas and beautiful blue foil chocolate round ornaments filled their shoes to overflowing.
Then my wife told them the story of ‘the man’ who ‘appeared’ at the door asking for their shoes assuring us that ‘St. Nicholas always comes.’
The eldest, nine-year-old Hannah, blurted out, “But I thought St. Nicholas wasn’t real, like really real.”
The truth of the matter is that God is real, and He takes care of us, and often, as has been the case in our family, He looks out for us through the generosity of others.
I want to thank you so very much for your support of LifeSiteNews.
From my family to yours, a very happy Christmas and blessed New Year.