Yesterday Jon and I attended the 2nd annual Strocel holiday brunch at Swan-E-Set, in Pitt Meadows. It was a lovely occasion, with 26 attendees in total. The spread was great, the company was entertaining, and the room was beautiful. We’re looking forward to next year.

The countdown is on, with three days until Christmas. Tomorrow is my last day of work until January 5th, and I’m looking forward to the break. It is much-needed at this point, I assure you.

We’ve been getting the Christmas tree up. It’s a very nice smelling tree, and kitten has not yet climbed it, but we have a long way to go before Christmas.

I attended a St. Nicholas day party today with my Brownies. It was held at our meeting place, St. Timothy’s Anglican Church in Burnaby. At the party, they told the story of St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Smyrna during the 4th century. As we all know, he was especially fond of children and concerned for the poor.

However, there was a little piece of the story that I had never heard. Apparently, in Smyrna there was a very poor family with three daughters. They were starving, and they had to make a difficult choice. That choice was stay together and all starve, or sell one of their daughters so the rest could eat.

They decided to sell the oldest daughter, and told her that in the morning she would be sold off so that the rest of her family could eat. Of course, she was totally distraught and cried herself to sleep. The bishop heard this, and came to her rescue by filling her shoes with gold, so that the family could eat and she could stay. The story goes on that the family ran out of money again, and decided to sell daughter #2. Again, St. Nicholas came to the rescue, filling the second daughter’s shoes with gold while she slept. Finally, this happened again with the third daughter, but this time the bishop left an additional two bags of gold so that the family would have enough money forever and this situation would not arise again.

This is a pretty terrible story, selling children for money. No mention is made of any sons, so I conclude that either there were none, or else only girls were bought and sold like property (not unlikely). Also, I wonder what this family is up to that they allowed themselves to reach such dire straits 3 times in a row. It’s almost as if the third time around they know that St. Nicholas will rescue them, and they are taking advantage. Perhaps everyone would have been better off if the bishop had given the father a good job in the first case, to create a sustainable income for the family. Too bad I wasn’t there to make this suggestion.

In any case, this is where the practice of leaving treats in wooden shoes and stockings comes from, and where the idea of a benevolent figure leaving treats for children began. Thank heavens I don’t have to eat chocolate out of my shoe, though.

The holidays are coming, very quickly. People are talking about their Christmas shopping, and I have learned that some prepared souls are finished already. In fact, some were finished as much as one whole month before Christmas. Is it just me, or is this rather excessive? It seems to reduce Christmas to a list of gifts to buy, instead of a holiday to be enjoyed.

At least, this is what I tell myself, because I have barely started my shopping. My excuse is that I enjoy Christmas shopping, and I will drag it out. Who can resist the music, decorations, and smells at the mall? Not I, so I will not even try. Even if I have to brave that parking lot to get there.