A Georgia Girl in Germany

Once again, Saint Nikolaus visited us and left candy for the kids. After sorting through their treats that morening , Zachary explained to us that there are actually two variants of Saint Nikolaus and his visit. The first version is when he visits the night of Dec. 5 and fills the boots of good kids with candy (which is what he did at the Cook household). The second version is when he visits the night of Dec. 6, along with his brother. On this night, they’re in search of “bad kids,” who they will then snatch and stuff inside a sack of coal, shake in the bag, and take the bag (with these bad kids inside) to the middle of the woods to dump out.

I think I would certainly try to be good so Saint Nikolaus and his brother didn’t want to visit me.

Benjamin was paying close attention to Zachary’s story about Saint Nikolaus and his brother, and within a few short moments he was beside me whispering in my ear: “I don’t want to be put in the bag.” He looked so very serious...and I had to chuckle at how serious he was taking this new development. On average, he’s behaving better than he was last year, but he still doesn’t want to risk receiving more coal (two pieces in his stocking last year!).

Fast forward to nearly-bedtime on Dec. 6. Benjamin had already thrown a horrendous fit, come home and taken a three-hour nap, then woke up for an hour or so before getting ready to head back to bed along with Zachary and MacKenzie. The conversation then turned to our “Santa Key” that we leave outside for Santa to use with his magic to come inside (since we don’t have a fireplace). Benjamin was the last one to have it, but he couldn’t remember where he put (hid) it after retrieiving it following Saint Nikolaus’ use.

MacKenzie was very concerned about finding the key since she was curious if Saint Nikolaus would leave goodies two nights in a row. However, Benjamin was NOT concerned about finding the key. I think he may have honestly forgotten where he had placed it, but even if he knew for certain where it was, he wasn’t telling. He had a look on his face that said it all: he wasn’t going to take any chance of Saint Nikolaus’ brother snatching him up inside a coal sack and leaving him in the woods.

Saint Nikolaus and his brother didn’t visit us that night (no key), so Benjamin was safe in his own bed.

We’re still looking for the key...and have two weeks to track it down in time for Santa’s visit.

Here are more interesting details I found about Saint Nikolaus and his helper that help substantiate Zachary’s tale: Saint Nikolaus will fill boots with gifts and sweets, and at the same time check up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good, handing out presents on a per-behavior basis. For many children, Nikolaus also elicited fear, as he was often accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Ruprecht), who was equipped with goat legs and would threaten to beat, or sometimes actually beat, the children for misbehavior. In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli, he would threaten to put bad children in a sack and take them back to the dark forest. In other accounts he would throw the sack into the river, drowning the naughty children.

What a horrid thought! I think I like the kinder, tamer version of Santa...without his brother, Knecht Ruprecht or Schmutzli!!

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas, Germany, MacKenzie, Zachary