My mother probably doesn’t remember this. At the young age of eleven, I knew it was selfish and silly. But I did it anyway.
It was close to Christmas, and we’d been learning in school about different traditions around the world. I think it was Holland where children would leave their wooden shoes by the door. St. Nicholas filled the shoes with candy in the dark of night.
I told my mom. And Chris and I left our worn shoes by the door. To be honest I wasn’t expecting anything. Money was tight enough without adding another layer to the holiday. And it was very short notice.
To my delight and surprise there was a little bag of candy in each of our shoes in the morning. The candy was sweet. My mom was sweeter for indulging us. My memory, the sweetest.
