Happy Sinterklaas!

As the Dutch know well, December 6th is a magical day - it is the day Sinterklaas (or St. Nicholas) comes to town! It was an especially magical Sinterklaas day for us this year.  We spent some time preparing, and getting the kids excited for it.  We even borrowed some books and videos from the library that talked about St. Nicholas and what he has to do with Christmas.  More about this later.  For now, here are some pictures of Sinterklaas 2013.  

  

The girls were both ecstatic about their wooden shoes. 

After laying the shoes out by the door, along with a plate full of lettuce for Sinterklaas' horse Amerigo, it was time for bed.

The next morning we woke the girls up early to some Sinterklaas music, and they ran out to see see what was in their shoes.

Paisley was happy to find some drop (Dutch black licorice) in her shoes.

And she was thrilled to unwrap her favorite Christmas movie (Elf).

Sinterklaas was also kind enough to stop by Grandma's house in Canada and pick up a little package for the girls.

I think Paisley was pretty excited about that one too.  What do you think?

Meanwhile, Afton devoured the licorice and pepernoten (little gingerbread cookies).

She couldn't be bothered to pose for a picture.

The girls and I spent the day making kerstkranjes (Dutch wreath cookies) for our Sinterklaas party that night.  These are yummy to eat and look nice tied with some ribbon and hung on a Christmas tree!

At the party in the evening, there was lots of yummy food - stuffed pork, fried mushrooms, cinnamon glazed carrots, olliebollen, speculaas,Wassail, vla and more.  We ate, sang Sinterklaas songs (with horrible pronunciation, I'm sure), visited with good people and even had a pretend Sinterklaas where all the kids pretended to be asleep and their shoes were filled with treats.  

Naturally, while the other babies look at the camera, Afton is eyeing baby-in-pink's sucker, which she promptly grabbed seconds after this picture.  

All in all, it was a day of culture, friendship, food, gifts and fun.  Of course the reason we celebrate Dutch Christmas is because David is Dutch, and we want to keep those traditions alive. But it also gave us a chance to spend some time learning about St. Nicholas.  I've often wondered what Santa Claus has to do with the birth of Christ, or whether it's just a way of promoting all the commercialism surrounding Christmas.  Without going into all the details of his story, St. Nicholas was a man who found joy in giving.  His parents died when he was young, and he found that what brought him happiness was bringing happiness to others through the giving of gifts.

 If there is going to be any commercializing of the celebration of this season celebrating Christ's birth, I'm glad that it is centered around a good, loving man who gave from the kindness of his heart. After all, this is exactly what the Savior did.  He gave willingly and unselfishly, even to the giving of His own life.  There are many legends of St. Nicholas giving to those who were in desperate need.  And there is no better time than Christmas to remember how desperately we each need the eternal gift that the Savior gave to each of us.

I provided a link for a Veggie Tales movie above, and I just want to share the part I found most touching. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!  Happy Sinterklaas and Merry Christmas.