sinterklaas goed heilig man...

yesterday was, as we here in holland call it, 'pakjes avond' (which means, loosely, 'presents night').

now, as a child, sinterklaas in my house went something like this: december 5, right before bed, my sister and i placed our klompjes in front of the fireplace and shoved carrots in them. earlier in the day, we'd have visited sinterklaas at the dutch store and sung for him, sat on his lap, and gotten pepernoten. the next morning, like magic, sinterklaas would have brought us presents. even after we knew he wasn't real, we did it anyways, because it was something special for our family.

here, it's all a little different. sinterklaas, as you know, arrived in holland a few weeks ago. every night since them, kids have been putting their shoes in front of the [window, door, stove] with a [carrot, apple, drawing] inside them. most of them have gotten gifts at least twice a week (usually something smaller, like a little toy or chocolate letter or pepernoten). then, on actual sinterklaas, (pakjes avond) a zwaarte piet knocks on the door and leaves the gifts on the porch. a lot of kids also get a gift or two on christmas, but mostly sinterklaas is the big one.

i'm not going to lie: i had fun. and it was exciting. but i really missed the klompjes and family.

(also, guess what s. got? that's right. lego. guess who built it? that's right. me. good times.)