This sunday we celebrated Sinterklaas with the extended family at Jan and Nettie's house. The 3 older kids (Quinten age 7 and Leah + Stine age 4 sang seasonal songs while Finn ran around examining everything. Then there was a knock on the door, and when the kids ran outside there was a huge box full of gifts. 
Leah was very happy with her dress-up costume, music box and arts/crafts toys amongs others. Finn got an etch-a-sketch and a tractor amongst the to presents. All the adults also enjoyed gifts and traditional drinks of hot-chocolate. We also ate gingerbread-like cookies called "pepper nuts".
Next week, we will be celbrating Hanukkah here at our house, with the extended family coming to join in.
For those interested,a brief explanation on the dutch Sinterklaas traditions. Sinterkaas is celebrated on Decembr 4th. Sinterklaas lives in Spain for most of the year (much smarter to me than the cold North Pole). The official holiday is on December 5th. At the end of November, Sinterklaas comesby steam boat to the Netherlands with his white horse and his "black pete" helpers (same role as Santa's elves). The Black Petes are mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful Moorish dresses. Kids leave shoes out to revieve presents in, and also leave a carrot for the horse. Today, the people paint their faces black and dress in colorful page-boy like costumes with a lace color and feathered cap.
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