This week, I've been stressed out. Finals are evil, and forcing them on someone when there's Christmas to be had is even worse. But somehow, when Mom put the Sinterklaas songs CD on the stereo, I felt a lot better. It felt more like Christmas, and brought back memories.

What on earth am I talking about? :) Well, from when my family lived in the Netherlands, we've kept celebrating Sinterklaas Dag, St. Nicholas' Day. It's the Dutch gift-giving day, and although we still save the bulk of our gifts for Christmas itself the traditions around Sinterklaas remain part of our own holiday traditions.

Sinterklaas is St. Nicholas, and the name 'Santa Claus' was derived from his name. According to Dutch tradition, he lives in Spain year-round, and arrives in Holland in late November. He comes in on a steamboat (and there is usually a televised arrival-of-Sinterklaas on Dutch TV every year), accompanied by his Zwarte Piets (Black Petes), who are dark Moorish men. The role of the Zwarte Piet is to throw candy for the children at Sinterklaas' arrival, and to assist the good Sint as he buys the toys for the children in the shops. (Sinterklaas doesn't get elves, but he DOES get to live in Spain. Not bad.) Sinterklaas also has a white horse, which he rides.

On Sinterklaas Dag itself, children leave their wooden shoes by the fireplace. Sometimes they will sing Sinterklaas songs up the chimney, hoping to be heard. (Once, when my sister and I did that, she got a faceful of soot.) Often, hay or grass and carrots for Sint's horse are also left in the shoes. In the night, Sinterklaas rides on his horse across the rooftops, and he sends the Zwarte Piets down the chimneys. Good children get toys and candies in their shoes - one traditional sweet is the first letter of the child's name, rendered in tasty chocolate. Bad children get a bundle of sticks, the better to beat them with. REALLY bad children get stuffed into the Zwarte Piet's bags and taken away. My sister was always scared of that part.

The cool thing is that Sinterklaas is and always has seemed to be far more REAL than Santa Claus... to me, anyway. He came in on a steamboat. Heck, he came in to our little village on a canal boat, complete with white horse and Zwarte Piets. We saw him on the streets one evening while driving home from church on Sinterklaas Dag, and my sister was thrilled.

So we still celebrate it, even here. Even though things don't always go as planned - one year, our dog ate the trail of pepernoten (little spice cookies) leading to our sack of presents - it's still a tradition we love, and one that's really rare outside of Holland itself. But we still leave out our wooden shoes, make pannekoeken and pea soup, and have a grand time listening to our CD of traditional Sinterklaas songs. Even though we can't see Sint come in on the steamboat or join the throng of children hoping a Zwarte Piet might throw some pepernoten or taai taai our way... even though I can no longer walk down the shopping street at our village going "ooooh" at the extra-fancy marzipan confections in the bakery windows... we still celebrate it. And I still love it.

So, what are YOUR interesting family traditions? :)

Sosi"Sinterklaasje, kom mar binnen met je knecht... I doubt I spelled that all right, it's been AGES, but hey"qui