Life has been busy, but oh so merry! In the normal lull between Halloween and Thanksgiving, the Dutch have two of their biggest holidays for children.
First up was Sint-Maarten on November 11th, the adorable holiday where the kids go door to door with their hand made lanterns, singing special songs for treats. Pete was in his hometown for his childhood friend, Chris' wedding so I gathered a few neighborhood friends and Brad and Joey to go around with. Another American moved to our street last week and has a daughter Maeve's age so we are quite excited! It was our first time going in our neighborhood, spending the past two years with friends who have since moved away :( I loved getting to see who lived at some of the houses and seeing the joy on the older folks faces. Jude was the oldest and the only one who knew the songs, but he sang enthusiastically for all. He learned the songs this year in his weekly Dutch classes at school. Baby steps!
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| The best group picture we could manage |
The following weekend, Sinterklaas arrive on his steam boat from Spain. We have attended the Amstelveen welcome parade every year, but decided that we wanted to see his Amsterdam arrival, a much grander affair. It was a bitter cold day, but we bundled up and cycled up the Amstel to watch his boat make its way up the river into the city. There were so many boats on the canals, packed to the gills with children, hoping to get a close look at Sint. We had to settle for our sighting from land. Maeve was really miserable, but not able to articulate what was wrong. Later, she shared that she was "scared." I remember her trauma from meeting Sinterklaas last year. We did some explaining of how Sinterklaas brings presents and this seemed to warm her to the idea of it.
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| Piets were stopping to give children name tags to Sint would know their names. |
Let the festive season begin!
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