Merry Christmas

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas Eve with out all of the celebrations. Although we are happy not to have to deal with the cold and snow that all of you in Wisconsin are dealing with!!

Here the Christmas season is not too different than back in the states. There definitely is not as much commercialism and hardly any decorating outside except for the main streets. The season starts with the arrival of Sinterklaas and his helpers Zwarte Piets (Black Peters.) The Zwarte Piets are dresses in 16th century Spanish attire to symbolize the dominance Spain had over the Netherlands during that time.

He arrives by boat from Spain in mid-November and they celebrate his birthday on the 6th. He looks different than the Santa we are familiar with. He wears dark red robes and a hat similar to a bishop's and he rides a white horse.

Traditionally kids left their shoes filled with hey, carrots and sugar for his horse and he then replaced it with treats and gifts for the kids. That was replaced with the stocking that most of us are familiar with now. A popular treat at this time is a chocolate letter based on the first letter of the family's last name.

The Christmas trees and decorations are put up after Sinterklaas comes on the 6th. We actually saw 3 cars with Christmas trees in them today, so it seems that some families don't put up a tree until Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day is spent with family and the 26th is called 2nd Christmas day and spent relaxing and possibly going to a show or out to dinner.

We miss you all and hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas!!