Everyday life as the seasons change  

Wintertime  

St. Nicholas Day

The advent calendar is hung up and sweeten the run-up to Christmas for the children. Many colorful envelopes hang close together and each one hides a new secret.Sometimes it's a game night together, a flashlight walk or we bake cookies together. 24 little adventures should shorten the waiting time until Christmas Eve.Today, December 5th, there is something special on the card in the yellow envelope: "We're putting a plate on!"

With the same anticipation as I did as a child, my grandchildren put the bread and biscuits on the plate. Both then seem a bit thoughtful and decide to paint a picture for St. Nicholas.I have to smile as I listen to their conversations that they probably weren't always as polite and friendly as expected. They promise each other that they won't argue so often and while they create their little works of art with the colorful pencils, my thoughts wander back to my childhood.

"I had been playing outside in the snow all afternoon. Now I was sitting nicely  wrapped up with the hot water bottle on the sofa and waited until dinner was ready. That evening I was very calm when we were eating together. It was the evening before Nicholas and so my thoughts revolved around the holy man and his companion Knecht Ruprecht. I was a little bit afraid that I had not well-behaved over the year and that I might get a rod.

After eating together with the familiy, I sat at the kitchen window for a while and looked out, lost in thought. The darkness had bathed everything in its black light now. Only the moon looked down at the earth as a bright crescent, surrounded by twinkling stars that could still be seen in infinity.

Because of tiredness I could hardly keep my eyes open, but before going to bed I wanted to set up my plate and hoped that Nikolaus would fill it up with goodies. My brother and I got a dinner plate from the kitchen cupboard.We put a kale leaf, a few pieces of sugar cubes, and the cookies that we had baked together the day before on our plate. The cabbage, bread and the sugar  were for the white horse of Nicholas; the biscuits were for the holy man and his servant Ruprecht. With the plate in hand we went into the living room and put it on the windowsill. Now we could only wait and hoped that Santa Nicholas would be happy about the gifts and that we didn't find a rod the next day.

The next morning my brother woke me up. He was very excited and shook me.We went into the living room together. No rod! Our plates were filled with chocolate, tangerines, nuts and biscuits and the "Sünnerklaas-man" watched over the delicacies. There was a white pipe stuck in his  mouth and when I carefully took the man made of sweet bread from the windowsill, I saw the tracks in the snow outside.Between the footprints in the cold crystals I discovered the prints of a horse. Only a horseshoe could conjure up these images in the snow.

Now I knew that St. Nicholas really existed and a feeling of happiness went through my little child's heart.

My father and mother looked at each other and it seemed to me that they were sharing a secret.