the biggest boxes. that, and the more they pester the adults about getting a certain item or items, the harder it is to open that gift when they do get it.
my mother’s family is german, so they always observed the custom of leaving shoes out on the eve of st. nicholas, a custom we continued when my sister and i were young.
she told us that one year, when she was about ten, if that, my grandparents decided to have some fun with her. she woke up on the morning of st. nicholas day, ran to her shoes, and discovered that they were filled with sticks and coal! after she had 