Saint Nicholas Eve

I wanted to make my daughter’s unexpected wish come true

- ERIN JANOSO

Lights from the Christmas tree reflected off Aurora’s blonde hair, bowed over a smudged piece of notebook paper. Composing any letter was a difficult task for a little girl just learning to write, and this one was very important.

Aurora paused from her work, frowned at her paper and turned to me. “How do you spell Nicholas, Mama?”

“That’s a hard one. Let’s do it together.”

I knelt on the floor beside her and remembered my own first letter to Saint Nicholas on the eve of his special day, December 6. My grandparents were German immigrants, and they’d brought the Saint Nicholas Day tradition with them to America. Now I told the story to Aurora while we were living in Alaska. How Nicholas of Myra was a fourth-century bishop known for his great generosity. After his death on December 6, 343, he became Saint Nicholas— Sinterklaas in Dutch-speaking countries—the patron saint of children.