Sinterklaas came to our house

December 5th and 6th is a holiday in a child's life in the Benelux countries (and a bit beyond). Saint Nicolas or Sinterklaas comes in the night of his birthday to visit all children that have been good and who have put their shoe at the chimney to bring them some toys.

The weeks before the anticipation had risen since we had seen his arrival in town and at swim class. So it's no wonder that there was already one shoe ready with carrot etc by the time I got home from work.  Before bedtime we added the other missing shoes and chose also a little gift for Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet to enjoy during their nightly visit. I learned that Sinterklaas would love popsicles...it seems a bit unhandy with the big white beard but hey, who am I to judge? 

During the day both children had already practised and left a shoe in their class rooms as well. And Sinterklaas had made a visit to the school before his busy work night.  We had the impression that Beertje had been a bit intimidated by it all as he was a bit in doubt whether he wanted Sinterklaas to come that night and whether he wanted to leave his shoe. He also mumbled all of a sudden that he didn't have to sit on Sinterklaas his lap which we confirmed and then we didn't tackle the topic much anymore to him as it seemed to stress the little boy a bit. Kabouter on the other hand made big plans to come and spy regularly in the hallway. Fortunately for Sinterklaas he did not succeed since he "by accident fell asleep almost immediately". 

The next morning Kabouter broke all records getting dressed in a rush. In his stress he couldn't find the living room light button right away but then a big Woow  escaped, parroted by Beertje a moment later. Unfortunately Kabouter's most wanted item couldn't be found and his face froze a bit.  But there is hope because Sinterklaas left a letter explaining he could not carry everything to our house and he'd put also some items in his bag when passing by the grandparents. So the tension remains a little bit until Saturday.