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Do you celebrate St. Nick's Day? St. Nick's Day stockings are a fun tradition for our family — here's what I bought for ours!
MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO:
📚 St. Nicholas Book — https://amzn.to/3R6sVCb
🎄 Christmas PJs — https://amzn.to/3Tnjgdl
🦖 Dinosaur Wallet — https://amzn.to/3uHso24
St. Nicholas Day Printables: https://blessedhomeschool.com/product/saint-nicholas-learning-pack/
✨Check out my Amazon shop for more homeschool resources and recommendations: https://blessedhomeschool.com/amazon
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Hey there! I’m Sara, and I’m a teacher-turned-homeschooling mom to 4 kiddos (including a set of twins!). I balance homeschooling while working full-time from home, and am so thankful you are here.
I love sharing about homeschooling on my blog, Blessed Homeschool, where you’ll find tips, resources, and curriculum reviews. Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, I hope you will leave inspired and equipped with what you find.
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My husband and I had a big Christmas stocking debate in the early years of our marriage
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In today's video, I'm going to share what that debate was, and I'm also sharing what we just bought
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for our kids' Christmas stockings this year. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Sarah from Blessed Home School
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If you're new here, drop a comment below to say hi, and make sure to hit that subscribe
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button if you love homeschooling tips, information, and encouragement. Okay, so what was the big
0:35
stocking debate? Well, it really was over the way and the reason we each grew up incorporating
0:41
Christmas stockings into our festivities. I had always just assumed that other families did
0:45
Christmas stockings like we did, but my husband's family did not. Growing up, his family hung
0:51
stockings by the fireplace and they filled them with treats for the kids to find on Christmas
0:56
morning. So they would open them like any other gift on Christmas
0:59
morning. In our home growing up, we would hang our stockings at the beginning of the month
1:03
and anticipate December 6th, which we knew as St. Nick's Day. And on that day, we would wake up
1:10
and we would find the stockings mysteriously filled with candies, small gifts, and other treats
1:16
I couldn't believe that my husband didn't know of this tradition or even what St. Nick's Day was
1:21
It was such a fun memory that I had growing up and definitely one of the traditions I wanted to share
1:26
with our own little family. So the big debate was, do we even? do stockings on St. Nick's Day or do we do them on Christmas? St. Nick's Day, one out
1:36
And while we do enjoy this fun stocking tradition, I also, you know, want to use it as an
1:42
opportunity to teach my kids about who St. Nicholas was and what we're even celebrating and doing
1:48
this for. So before I share with you what I got to put in my kids' stockings this year
1:53
let me share with you a little bit about who St. Nick was and why we even have a St. Nick's
1:57
day. The man who inspired who we know and love is Santa Claus was a real bishop who was born in
2:03
the third century. St. Nicholas was left a fortune from his parents, which he used generously to help
2:08
others. And there are many stories that have circulated over the years about St. Nicholas. One of the
2:12
most famous ones tells of a time that he threw bags of gold coins into the window of three sisters
2:18
because their father couldn't pay for their marriages. But there are other legends and stories that
2:22
been passed down through the years about him and the things that he did. So St. Nicholas
2:27
actually died on December 6th, which is the day that we celebrate St. Nick's Day
2:31
St. Nicholas's generosity and love for the Lord has been an inspiration to others
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So many St. Nicholas Day traditions focus on the joy of giving to others
2:40
And he loved children, so it's only fitting that we bless our kids and make some special memories for them on this day
2:45
In Europe children begin to leave their shoes out on the eve of St Nick Day in hopes that he would fill the shoes with small treats and gifts Apparently as St Nick threw bags of coins into the windows they sometimes landed in empty shoes which is how this tradition began
3:00
So some families keep the tradition alive by setting shoes out by the fireplace, while other families substitute the shoes for stockings
3:07
So our family hangs stockings each year, and I absolutely love filling them on the night of December 5th
3:11
and seeing the joy in my kids' faces when they come down in the morning. There are many books about St. Nicholas
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but I wanted to share with you one that we have really enjoyed that I purchased a few years ago
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it's the story of St. Nicholas more than reindeer and a red suit. I don't know if you can see it with
3:26
the glare very well, but we read through this each year in the days leading up to St. Nicholas Day
3:32
This book was published by Voice of the Martyrs, and it tells more of St. Nick's story that we don't
3:38
often hear. And this actually was part of a set, again, from Voice of the Martyrs, that this is
3:45
the Courageous Series. And they're just six stories of here. Heroes of the Faith that come in this set. So you've got Valentine Patrick, Paul, Thomas, and Stephen. So these are all
4:05
really great. And again, the St. Nicholas book came in this set as well. So we love reading through these
4:11
And this book especially is just one that we enjoy each year to remind ourselves, why are we doing this
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So a lot of people have heard the legends that I shared above about St. Nicholas, but a lot fewer may know about his devotion to Christ and how he endured persecution
4:26
And although he was tortured and sent to prison, he refused to deny Jesus
4:32
So the story of the boldness with which St. Nick lived out his faith is worth sharing with your kids this season
4:37
Okay, now that you know the reason behind our tradition, let me show you what is going in my kids stockings this year
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So typically I get a lot of small little things because we actually do fill the stockings and hang them up
4:51
You know, I don't set them out under the tree or leave them on the couch or anything like that. So I try to get small things that are actually going to fit in the stockings
4:59
So I will say right off the bat, a lot of what we put in our stockings is candy
5:03
We like candy. We like treats. So I do get a lot of just little little candies and little things like that, some that we all love, some specific to what my kids love
5:13
But there are also a couple of kind of traditions that I do include in the stockings every year
5:19
And the first one, our ornaments. So every year I do ornaments for our kids
5:25
And I try to pick out things that kind of commemorate some of the things that we've done over the year or something special that relates to our year
5:34
So this year, I actually got Grinch ornaments for them. And I'm going to start speaking a little bit quieter because I made them go hide, but I don't want them
5:43
I don want them to hear all this but I got little Grinch ornaments and they all I found different ones actually So I got four kids um so actually three of them got Grinch ornaments because we are doing the Grinch play with our
5:58
homeschool co-op so they have all the bigger kids have all been a part of that play so I thought this
6:03
would be a really fun way I've been doing this ever since they were born so my parents did this with
6:09
us we each got an ornament every year and then by the time that they you know move out and have their
6:14
own house, their own tree. They're going to be able to take all these fun ornaments that they have
6:19
for their own house. And my little guy, he's, he wasn't old enough to be in the place. So I got him
6:24
um, a Jurassic World ornament. He loves Jurassic World. So I was thrilled to have found this. So that's
6:31
something that goes in their stockings every year. And then something else. This is the one thing that
6:38
doesn't fit in their stockings. So I will usually set this on the fireplace below. And I haven't done
6:44
this every year because I honestly go back and forth because it's kind of expensive. And so I try to
6:51
find a good deal on them. But I did it last year for the first time and my kids absolutely loved it
6:59
So again, I went back and forth on if I was going to splurge on this again. But they are the matching
7:05
Christmas PJs. So I know it's, I don't know if you guys do matching PJs or not, but we really enjoyed it
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And I thought it was really fun. So this was the other kind of big thing that is going to go as their stocking gifts
7:18
So I found these on Amazon and they weren't too bad of a deal
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I got a good Black Friday deal on them. So these are going to go
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They're all the same. I got one in different sizes. So there's the top and then these are the bottoms
7:32
They're actually really soft. I will see if I can link to these in the description
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If you're interested in checking them out, I'm really picky about my pajamas and things like that
7:42
which is also why I kind of hesitated, but I was really happy to get these and feel how soft they are
7:47
And I think everyone's going to look really cute. We just enjoy wearing them throughout the month of December and especially on Christmas, Christmas Eve as we go to sleep
7:56
And we all wake up in the morning in our matching PJs. Okay, so those are the things that are kind of themed that everybody gets
8:04
A couple of other things that I got to go in stockings this year are gift cards
8:08
My kids love menchies. It's one of, we don't do it very often
8:12
they love to go. So Menchys was having a really good deal on their gift cards. So we stopped in and picked up a
8:19
couple of gift cards for their stockings and then Roblox. My kids are big into Roblox these days. They love it. So I found
8:27
the cheapest option I could for Roblox and my big kids are going to get this in their stockings
8:32
For my littlest guy he is really big on kind of saving his money and saving his coins and he didn have a great wallet So I found a dinosaur wallet for him that I going to stick in there This is really actually impressed with it It has a nice big zipper pouch that he can use for his coins It came with
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there is like a strap in here that he can use if he wants to, but I'm really excited to give this
9:01
to him. He's going to love it. For my girls, I've got two girls. So I just got a couple of
9:06
little nail polishes in their favorite color that I can stick in there for them. Again, something small that's going to fit. We've got candy canes. Got to have some candy canes for
9:14
the Christmas stockings. Milk chocolate bills. These go in there every year as well. I got them each
9:20
one of these hot chocolate bombs. I got them at Walmart because I had four different ones. So I
9:25
got them each a different one. They love hot chocolate. They love these things. So I usually try to
9:30
find a cheap option to go in their stockings. A couple of other random candies. So just something
9:36
specific to each of them that they enjoy. So I picked out something that they each love individually
9:43
and those are going to go in there. I also usually just buy one bag of like a mixed assortment
9:49
to split up between everybody. And then I saw this in the store the other day, and it's a
9:54
it's a birthday cake, Kit Kat, and I had to get this for my little guys stocking because his
10:00
birthday is actually on December 6th on St. Nick's Day. So I figured, well, how fun is that? Just a little
10:06
birthday cake piece of candy that he can enjoy as he comes down on his birthday and he gets to open
10:12
his stocking and then start the rest of his birthday festivities. Okay, so that's for my kids. I also have
10:18
to fill up my stocking and my husband's stocking because we love treats too. So I usually will
10:25
split the bag of big candy. We'll get some of that. But then my husband, every year I have to get
10:29
a chocolate orange. These are his favorite. He gets one of them per year when I put it in his
10:35
stocking. So that's going in there. Josh was probably watching this right now, but he
10:39
helped me pick some of the stuff out, so he knows that's going in there. And then for me
10:43
there are usually just two things that I want in my stocking, my favorite candy. These are
10:48
amazing. And you guys, I would buy big bags of these every year. And I can't find them anymore
10:53
I only found this little box of them. So I don't know who is carrying these right now, if they're
10:58
even selling bags of these, but I had to pick this up because these are one of my favorites
11:03
And then my other favorite, gotta have the Cadbury mini snowballs. Those are going in my stocking
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Thanks so much for watching today. I hope you enjoyed learning about St. Nick and seeing what we have for our stockings
11:15
And I would love to hear in the comments if this is something that you do with your kids, or if there are any other fun ways you commemorate St. Nick's Day
11:22
And if you're looking for some other fun ways to teach your kids about St. Nick, I have a few links and a printable I created on my blog, which I will link down below in the description
11:30
Don't forget to like this video and subscribe if you found it helpful. I'll see you next time
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