Calvin, meet Sinterklaas
In our household a strong Dutch background combined with a keen desire to separate the commercialism of American Christmas from the 
religious significance of that day to bring us the annual celebration of St. Nicholas Day. In years to come we plan to teach Calvin about the sainted bishop from the fourth century who is celebrated annually on December 6th for his many good works and his kindness to others, and we hope to help him understand the connection between this kindly religious man and the jovial fictitious character who gives the commercial tradition of Christmas it's white haired, red clad mascot. Our hope is that it will help him 
understand the meaning of giving during this festive season, and tonight he welcomed the tradition with his usual enthusiasm. Yes, we realize that we are one, if not two, days behind schedule, but since Calvin is as yet unaware of the religious calendar we moved our celebration to a Friday night so that his grandparents would be better able to join us. He spent the entire day, when he wasn't napping, that is, helping is mother clean and prepare the food and the house, and he spent his entire evening 
entertaining his four doting grandparents (it's a hard job, but someone's got to do it). His paternal grandmother, who even spent a portion of a school year in The Netherlands, brought with her not only memories, but also several traditional props and present to add a true feeling of tradition and festivity to the air. We snacked on Dutch cheeses and Dutch beer, and ate pork and Dutch potatoes for dinner. Before dinner we were visited by the spirit of Sinterklaas in the form of trinkets accompanied by poems, and followed by chocolate letters spelling our initials. The evening was truly one to be treasured, and we could not have asked for Calvin to have received a better introduction to this wonderful holiday.
family, holidays, traditions
Reader Comments (1)
Shannon
PS I love the wooden shoes. My kids both love thumping through the house in them.