Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

It's that time of year again. St. Nick is starting to pop up all over the place. We caught a glimpse of him today as he strolled through the City 2 shopping center in Brussels giving out candy, accompanied by his ragtime brass band. The chocolate stores are full of St. Nick figures and his helpers, including Swarte Piet, in white, milk, and dark chocolate - something for everyone! We especially like the Swarte Piet in dark chocolate. (That's a linguist joke.) 

Many stores have started bringing out the Christmas decorations but we don't have the feeling that Christmas is being rammed down our throats. Perhaps that's because of the prevalence of Christmas markets, which will start up in the next couple weeks. You can go to the markets to get your Christmas on or you can choose to avoid them. I plan to hit several, starting with the German Christkindlmarkt at SHAPE the weekend after Thanksgiving.

It's a magical time of year, the Christmas market season.  The magic helps us put the darkness out of our minds. And hey, without the dark, it wouldn't be so magical!