Several years ago, my oldest son served a mission for our church to the Netherlands. So I asked him about some of the Christmas traditions while he was there and every year since we have celebrated Sinterklaas day in some way or another.
Sinterklass Day which is on the eve of Dec 5th and morning of Dec. 6th is the ushering in of the Christmas season and to welcome Sinterklass to their city.
(We did ours Sunday night, so we were a few days early!)
In the Netherlands Sinterklaas comes in on a boat and then rides a horse down main street. In the Netherlands they celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25th and on Christmas eve the kids put carrots in their wooden shoes for Sinterklaas’s horse!
Sinterklaas day is simply the start of the Christmas Season.
I think that it is so fun to learn some of the traditions of other countries and it is fun for the kids to see some of the other things that kids around the world do for Santa.
Some years we have had Dutch dishes for dinner and Dutch treats and chocolate letters etc. but unfortunately this year it was very American. It was basically the welcoming of Santa and the beginning of the Christmas season, but the kids still loved it just the same.
After Santa’s noisy arrival…
he let the kids ring the bells and sing songs!
Then he took each child on his lap and talked to them.
I love this look…I think he was asking if she had a boyfriend or something! :)
In this picture, Santa was asking what she might want him to bring to her. I think that he was just a little surprised when the answer was a fishing pole!!
And this was his reaction to that response! A BIG high five!
We would like to wish all of you a
Merry Sinterklaas Day
from our family to yours.
Santa then had the kids sing a couple more songs with the bells and wished everyone a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Then going along with tradition. I gave all the kids their Christmas pj’s and a Christmas book. I love giving the kids their pajamas early because then they can wear them all month long! The book that I found this year is one that you can record your voice. My husband recorded all of these and the kids loved them! I think that they will treasure these books for years to come and the parents liked them too because they did not have to read it to them…Grandpa did!
I sometimes give my daughter and DIL’s a Christmas decoration to welcome in the holidays. This year, I made them a Christmas set for their kitchen. (A post will come later showing what I did.)
What Christmas traditions do you do with your family? What ones do you remember as a child growing up? I love to carry traditions on and to make new ones because…
traditions are what bind a family together!
Happy traditions to you and a very happy Sinterklaas Eve tomorrow!
Love Ya!
What a fun tradition! I’m going to have to remember this one for next year. Some friends in our ward were just called to be the mission president in the Netherlands last June, I read their blog often, it looks like a beautiful place!
Its so lovely to see that this great tradition is celebrated. We actually wrote a fun article about it too: http://www.threegurus.com/post/37339757182/why-do-belgians-consume-more-carrots-during-december
How fun! I read your post and it was fun to learn even a little bit more! Love the title! Thanks for your comment.
As a real Dutch girl i just have to reply to this post because i think it’s no great that other countries take time for our beautifull Dutch traditions. Though, there are some mistakes in your explanation about Sinterklaas i want to put it right ;-)!
Sinterklaas is an old saint who arrives in the first week of november from Spain. He arrives by boat and travels the Netherlands on his horse Amerigo together with his helper Piet to bring the Dutch kids presents! On the 5th of december it’s ‘pakjesavond’ in English you can translate it to; presentnight. Every child who has been good this year gets presents!
The carrots in the shoes don’t have anything to do with christmas. Kids put carrots in their shoes for Amerigo, Sinterklaas horse in the weeks before pakjesavond. In exchange for the carrots kids get candy.
It’s so weird to explain and translate everything to Enlish because it’s such a Dutch party. I hope you like the fact that i explained it a bit more!
Best wishes from the Netherlands!
Wow! Thank you so much! I really do appreciate your explanation! It was great and I love all of your fun traditions there in the Netherlands and do want to carry some of them on here in my home.
Happy Holidays from Utah!
We don’t really have any traditions other than putting up a tree. Wow, I guess we should come up with some since we have a child now. We’ve gotta make Christmas fun for her. Thanks for sharing at Submarine Sunday!
T’onna
Submarine Sunday Link Party
On December 5 or closest weekend to celebrate we host a Sinterklaas party. We start with a simple rice tafle dinner. Nasi Goering, satee and cucumber salad. We have almond rings, speculaas cookies, almond filled stolen. For supper. Then we play some Dutch games and sing a few Sinterklaas songs. The doorbell rings and there is a basket of small presents one for each person in attendance. Each gift has a poem attached which you have to read out loud before opening your gift. We have snacks of Tai tai and papernoten. As each person leaves they get a chocolate letter to take home. At my house you will put out your shoe on Dec5 and the chocolate letter shows up in it on Dec 6.
I have a couple of little Dutch girl costumes that the granddaughters love to do a fashion show during the party
We love Sinterklaas party time. It’s a good way to keep some Dutch traditions alive here in Canada
Jeanne, I love this!! Thank you so much for sharing!! Happy Sinterklass Day!!!