Christmas Idols

In America most kids (Christian ones at least) get excited for Santa Clause to visit. German kids have 3 different people to look forward to. I’ve found it somewhat confusing so I had Simon explain it to me.

On December 6th they celebrate Sankt Nikolaus. The night before kids put a boot out and it is filled with treats by Sankt Nikolaus (this is not Santa Claus). One of my friends here said that you can go to your neighborhood convenience store and they will fill it with treats for you! Simon didn’t know much about this though, so I figured if it didn’t matter to him, we’d just keep things simple and keep to our American tradition of Santa Claus. Sankt Nikolaus DID visit Kiera’s school though (as he did in her German Preschool in America), and he brought all of the children treats. I snapped some pics of the pics posted at her school of his visit…

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Just look at the wonder on their sweet little faces!

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I also posted some pics of him from our visit to the Weihnachtsmarkt in the woods (a few posts ago).

Then on the 24th, the Christkind (Christ child/ Jesus) brings children presents. The strange thing (to me at least) is that the Christ child/ Jesus is represented by a blonde young woman. Huh?

Lately though, the Christkind has been replaced more by the Weihnachtsman (Santa Clause) as the gift bringer.

Here’s a picture of the Christkind and the Weihnachtsman together…

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Here’s a cool explanation of Sankt Nikolaus and the Weihnachtsmann, etc.