Sunday, December 06, 2015

Sinterklaas is Coming to Town

Somehow, seemingly overnight, my department turned into the Dutch consulate. I'm now surrounded by three people who have wooden-shoe heritage.

So of course we decided to celebrate Sinterklaas at work on Friday.

Everyone's knows that if you leave your shoes by the door, Old Saint Nicholas will fill them with treats. So Liz printed out pictures of klompen for everyone and brought in real-life carrots for Sinterklaas' trusty goat.


And sure enough, Sinterklaas found his way to the marketing department! Not only did he give us each a chocolate Santa (chocolate Sinterklaases can be a bit tougher to come by in these parts), but his helper Vanessa also delivered the traditional Dutch breakfast of bread, butter, and chocolate sprinkles! Heerlijk!


The Sutherland kids also prepared for the annual arrival of de Sint, putting out their shoes in hopes of a Sinterklaas treat


While good kids get treats, there's a different fate for naughty children. Sinterklaas' helper, Zwarte Piet, beats the bad ones with a stick, shoves them in his bag, and takes them on the boat back to Spain. 


It was a close call for our kids, but they were able to make it on the nice list. Phew.

Chocolate letters all around!




And now for some more education:

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