Sinterklaas
I am so glad we are keeping the Dutch holiday of Sinterklaas alive here in America. Now that all my immediate family lives here we have even more reason to do it. My dad purchased a legit Sinterklaas and Black Piet costume in Holland a few years back, so we have all the makings to make a fantastic traditional Sinterklaas. Karina and Sander organized it, partly because Sander's mom and Maarten just flew in from Holland to spend the holidays with them. We had a yummy snack food dinner, and we waited until sinterklaas arrived. He finally did, by throwing candy in the house and the kids were excited! Waiting fot Sinterklaas....

 and he came!

 

 throwing candy

 

 

 

let the present opening begin! Traditionally, the Dutch write poems with their presents. The poem is supposedly written from one of Sinterklaas' Piet's and is humorous describing the present. It is a really fun part of the holiday and it makes some great memories. Because this was such a large group, some of the poem reading got swallowed up in th crowd, but nonetheless it was a lot of fun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 All the Dtch missionaries who came got a group shot with Sinterklaas

 

 

 

  Since Andrew wasn't there I read his poem for him and opened his gift.