The evening of the
5
th of December is the feast day of
Sv.
Mikulas (Santa Claus) to both Slovak and Czech children.
Sv.
Mikulas walks around the town in his long red robe, accompanied by an angel and the devil who is rattling large chains.
Sv.
Mikulas asks the children if they have been good during the whole year. The child should sing a song or recite something for
Sv.
Mikulas. A bad child is told they could be put into the devil’s sack and taken to hell! On that evening if you have been good you could expect candy, nuts, fruit and small gifts in your shoes. If, on the other hand, you were not so good, expect potatoes, rocks, or lumps of coal. A tradition was that most children got at least one rock, as no child is perfect.
We had to adapt the tradition a bit here in Cali and instead of us going around the village my friend Nicole arranged for all the interested children to come over to her house where St. Nick visited them. Some kids were so scared of the Devil that they couldn't even speak, but most of them did really good and promised to be even better the next year. I am very happy that my friends keep this tradition alive and that we are able to participate... even though in disguise.
Christmas Day was wonderful. This year we decided to do something lil bit different and we joined in on Skodas' Christmas tradition - Going up to Tahoe for the day. We left early in the morning and arrived at Sugar Bowl in record time - 2 hours and 30 minutes. There was hardly anybody on the slopes. I guess most of the people stayed home opening presents or something. The snow was not the best but the short lines and the sun made up for it. Chris was loving his new snowboard that he didn't get to try last year and I was finally trying out some lil jumps in the terrain park. It was great! 
