Happy St. Nicholas Day!
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Matthew 6:1-4
Clara was so excited about the gold coins in her pouch, when she saw them she declared, “Money so I can get married!”. Finally she has her dowry!
A new book for our collection.
Gifts for everyone from our neighbor!
All the excitement was just too much for Ephraim.
Phil bought this beer in the summer. We thought it would be fun to save and open on St. Nicholas Day. I’ll turn the post over to him now since he probably would have rather married this beer than me. Here is his “Ode to Samichlaus Bier“.
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A special treat: “The world’s most extraordinary beer”
Notice the bottling date: 2007. It’s a beer that ages well for perhaps a decade or more, much like a good wine. It actually is not dark and roasty, as one might assume, but rather a copper colored, smooth and malty beer. It’s a doppelbock (my favorite style), but lighter than most German double bocks. The higher alcochol and maltiness make for some delicious complexity that ages very well.
Brewed once a year on St. Nicholas’ day, this beer fermented and aged for 10 months. To get a clean, cold-fermenting lager to get up to this high of alcohol content, is quite a brewing feat. It was great (to one of us) and a neat tradition to start.
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Ok, back to me. About this beer I’ll just say a sip once a year is enough for me but I’m glad Phil liked it.
Almighty God, You bestowed upon Your servant Nicholas of Myra the perpetual gift of charity. Grant Your Church the grace to deal in generosity and love with children and with all who are poor and distressed and to plead the cause of those who have no helper, especially those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief. Treasury of Daily Prayer
Did any of you celebrate St. Nicholas Day?
How fun to see the shoes with goodies and not coal! I like how you did the wooden clogs; memories….
Tell Clara not to eat the “gold coins” or she’ll have to start over on her marriage savings! 🙂
We did celebrate St. Nicholas day…for the very first time! It was super simple, but fun and we look forward to more traditions next year.
I will have to let Jon read the beer post. He loves a good, dark beer. “The darker, the better.” Yep, one sip’ll do me. *shiver*
Oh my! So pretty! Puts my St. Nicholas Day spread to shame. Thanks so much for linking up. I really enjoyed reading about your St. Nicholas Day and I’m telling my beer aficianado husband about “Samichlaus Bier.” 🙂
Wow that is quite the spread! I love the looks of that beer too!
I would like to try that beer! Thanks for sharing about your celebration. This was our first year celebrating, and I bet my husband will want to add the beer to next year’s observance.
What a great St. Nicholas spread and German Beer – my husband would be jealous!
Thanks everyone! I’m so glad my family has begun to celebrate St. Nicholas Day along with many other Saint and Holy Days. There’s a lot that can be learned from keeping the Church year in the home!
If your husbands like “good beer” then they probably will want to try that one!