Saint Nicolas came last night. Sort of a pre-Christmas appetizer for the kids. The tradition here used to be presents from St. Nic on the 6th and celebrate Jesus on the 25th. Christmas hype has changed the holiday from something that was dinner with family and mass (1989) to mass commercialisation. (I prefer the commercialised version, myself. Not being a great church goer and loving the magick of twinkly lights.) Now Santa comes at Christmas, which he didn't in France 10 years ago. But it wouldn't be X-Mas without Santa so we do both, like most people now. Only this year my husband bought the presents (1 gift/child plus chocolate) and they were all under 20 bucks. Saint Nic isn't as popular this year. He's too broke and won't let Mrs. Saint Nic have any of the buying power. He does all the groceries. He makes dumb purchases. But he has control. And he's not popular. Go back to your day job, St. Nic. Let the Mrs. make the cookies. I BEG YOU!!!!!!!!