Sinterklaas 2015
Dec. 1st, 2015 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beelikejFor those of you who are new here: Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of Santa Claus. His birthday is celebrated on the Eve of December 6th with exchanging gifts in his name. Except my family chooses the weekend closest to this date when most of us are available for a get-together. We had each picked a name out of a (digital) hat for whom we'd buy a big gift, accompanied by a poem describing events of the year. (The traditional crafty secret santa surprise package was optional;) This year we were all going to be present at my mom's house in Zwolle on Saturday.
Well, that was the plan, anyway.
On Saturdaymorning my youngest brother H. called from Amsterdam to tell us his father in law had a heart-attack and was in the hospital getting surgery. H and his girlfriend B. were going to travel to the South-East of the Netherlands as fast as possible. (As it turns out, B's dad had received CPR immediately from two friends who were running with him when he collapsed. This most likely saved his life. They discovered a big clot in his coronary artery. He is recovering beyond expectations)
Mom and I couldn't reach my other brother, because he and his family had already left The Hague and were on their way to Z. For the benefit of my 4 year old nephew Ruben we decided to continue festivities with just the five of us.
When my brother and B. had to get back to Amsterdam on Sunday to make arrangements for work, they invited us all over for another get-together on Sunday afternoon, so we could catch up in person and exchange left over presents.
I made loads of photos: the first set of 16 is the arts & crafs of the surprise wrappings I build for brotherdearest and my nephew. Part two and three are of our Sinterklaas celebrations in Zwolle (10) and Amsterdam (10)
Making of the surprise packages
In 2015 my brother participated in the Fish-Potato-Run (8 miles from fishing town Urk to Emmeloord, where mostly potatoes are grown.). Sinterklaas suggested a diet of fish and potatoes to continue his training for other athletic events...
One of the items on my brother's wishlist was a toolset. However, he handed his list in too late, as I had already bought him books. But I happened to have a left-over wrench in my bike shed and decided to turn that into a fork as part of the surprise *grins*
I wrapped one of the books (a collection of Dutch political cartoons) in plastic and then soaked structured paper in hot water to sort of build a big potato. (Shush, it will totally work)
The other book ("Don't eat the yellow snow"- with inspirational classic rocklyrics) was hidden in a box and then turned into a gold fish with stuff from my arts &crafts closet. I also made a knife out of cardbord to go with the fork.
Tadaah! (Okay, so the potato looked a bit poorly, but luckily I found an old potato-bag in my trashbin (I CLEANED IT!) to wrap it in.)
A step by step of the surprise package for my darling nephew
I'd bought small presents for everyone else, they all got a poem as well.
On Saturday morning I decided to also make a special wrapping for my nephew, who is still too young to participate in secret santa and believes all presents are from Sinterklaas;) As I bought him monster tattoostickers, I figured I'd make him an easy-to-open monster box.
I glued white paper on the edges of the brown box and cut them into sharp teeth.
I used glittery stickerpaper to cover the top and taped a tongue inside to cover the present.
I cut eyes out of the interior of an old candybox, drew an iris with black marker and there's your monster!
Sinterklaas celebrations at my mom's
The big boat of Sinterklaas is filled with presents! (St. Nick always arrives by boat from Spain with his helpers and all the presents) Of course that caught my darling nephew's eyes right away. He had to wait a while before we started the festivities though, but we coloured patiently until all Sint's helpers were ready with the final touches on poems and wrapping *grins*
We had covered the boat with a table cloth so all helpers could secretly add more gifts. Ruben helped grandma reveal all the presents and then tried to read the names on the first packages: a big chocolate letter for everyone \o/
First big present for Ruben: a Mc Queen with all sort of bodyparts to turn the car into a plane. He LOVED it:)
Of course he also wanted to see what his mum G. got from Sinterklaas!
Gran is reading a poem and dad is unwrapping (not fast enough to Ruben's taste, he couldn't help advising his dad to "just OPEN IT", heehee.)
Last present for Ruben: mom reads the poem, while dad shows how to reach into the mouth of the monster! Of course we had to try one of the tattoos right away :-D
Afterwards we had dinner and then I cycled home while my brother and his family drove back to The Hague. To be continued...
Sinterklaas celebrations in Amsterdam
My mom and I traveled to Amsterdam by train; this is us in front of Central Station.
With the left over gifts for brotherdearest H. and B plus the presents Sinterklaas had delivered for all of us at their house, there was another huge pile to reveal!
B. reading a poem and a close up of the awesome surprise presents I got; Sint had written me a THREE PAGE poem about all the things that had happened to me in 2015, it was awesome. It covered everything from losing my job to the US roadtrip to fandom, haha!
Brother J. made this cool panorama shot of me discovering what was inside. (Photo of my loot below, see if you can guess what I'm so excited about;)
Another great surprise wrapping: brother J. got a puppet of himself and was told to prepare himself for another triathlon. Ruben helped his dad to pump up his arms:)
There was a beardless version of my brother's face as well, which Ruben used as a mask:)
Nearing the end...
Last but not least: the unwrapping of brother H.'s surprise:)
My loot: a canvas bookbag; a daily calender from Loesje (poster slogans); bottle of organic elderflower lemonade; papaya/mango srub; fruity showergels; glittery princess showergel; candy; daily baking calender; Tony Chocolonely's limited edition chocolate bars with licorice bits (no longer available! Well done, Sint!!) and my chocolate J.
The end.
If anyone is interested, I could share some (translated) poems. I'm so very thankful that everything turned out okay and we were able to get-together and hug and have fun despite the big scare of Saturday. I love my tiny family <3
J.
Well, that was the plan, anyway.
On Saturdaymorning my youngest brother H. called from Amsterdam to tell us his father in law had a heart-attack and was in the hospital getting surgery. H and his girlfriend B. were going to travel to the South-East of the Netherlands as fast as possible. (As it turns out, B's dad had received CPR immediately from two friends who were running with him when he collapsed. This most likely saved his life. They discovered a big clot in his coronary artery. He is recovering beyond expectations)
Mom and I couldn't reach my other brother, because he and his family had already left The Hague and were on their way to Z. For the benefit of my 4 year old nephew Ruben we decided to continue festivities with just the five of us.
When my brother and B. had to get back to Amsterdam on Sunday to make arrangements for work, they invited us all over for another get-together on Sunday afternoon, so we could catch up in person and exchange left over presents.
I made loads of photos: the first set of 16 is the arts & crafs of the surprise wrappings I build for brotherdearest and my nephew. Part two and three are of our Sinterklaas celebrations in Zwolle (10) and Amsterdam (10)
Making of the surprise packages
In 2015 my brother participated in the Fish-Potato-Run (8 miles from fishing town Urk to Emmeloord, where mostly potatoes are grown.). Sinterklaas suggested a diet of fish and potatoes to continue his training for other athletic events...
One of the items on my brother's wishlist was a toolset. However, he handed his list in too late, as I had already bought him books. But I happened to have a left-over wrench in my bike shed and decided to turn that into a fork as part of the surprise *grins*
I wrapped one of the books (a collection of Dutch political cartoons) in plastic and then soaked structured paper in hot water to sort of build a big potato. (Shush, it will totally work)
The other book ("Don't eat the yellow snow"- with inspirational classic rocklyrics) was hidden in a box and then turned into a gold fish with stuff from my arts &crafts closet. I also made a knife out of cardbord to go with the fork.
Tadaah! (Okay, so the potato looked a bit poorly, but luckily I found an old potato-bag in my trashbin (I CLEANED IT!) to wrap it in.)
A step by step of the surprise package for my darling nephew
I'd bought small presents for everyone else, they all got a poem as well.
On Saturday morning I decided to also make a special wrapping for my nephew, who is still too young to participate in secret santa and believes all presents are from Sinterklaas;) As I bought him monster tattoostickers, I figured I'd make him an easy-to-open monster box.
I glued white paper on the edges of the brown box and cut them into sharp teeth.
I used glittery stickerpaper to cover the top and taped a tongue inside to cover the present.
I cut eyes out of the interior of an old candybox, drew an iris with black marker and there's your monster!
Sinterklaas celebrations at my mom's
The big boat of Sinterklaas is filled with presents! (St. Nick always arrives by boat from Spain with his helpers and all the presents) Of course that caught my darling nephew's eyes right away. He had to wait a while before we started the festivities though, but we coloured patiently until all Sint's helpers were ready with the final touches on poems and wrapping *grins*
We had covered the boat with a table cloth so all helpers could secretly add more gifts. Ruben helped grandma reveal all the presents and then tried to read the names on the first packages: a big chocolate letter for everyone \o/
First big present for Ruben: a Mc Queen with all sort of bodyparts to turn the car into a plane. He LOVED it:)
Of course he also wanted to see what his mum G. got from Sinterklaas!
Gran is reading a poem and dad is unwrapping (not fast enough to Ruben's taste, he couldn't help advising his dad to "just OPEN IT", heehee.)
Last present for Ruben: mom reads the poem, while dad shows how to reach into the mouth of the monster! Of course we had to try one of the tattoos right away :-D
Afterwards we had dinner and then I cycled home while my brother and his family drove back to The Hague. To be continued...
Sinterklaas celebrations in Amsterdam
My mom and I traveled to Amsterdam by train; this is us in front of Central Station.
With the left over gifts for brotherdearest H. and B plus the presents Sinterklaas had delivered for all of us at their house, there was another huge pile to reveal!
B. reading a poem and a close up of the awesome surprise presents I got; Sint had written me a THREE PAGE poem about all the things that had happened to me in 2015, it was awesome. It covered everything from losing my job to the US roadtrip to fandom, haha!
Brother J. made this cool panorama shot of me discovering what was inside. (Photo of my loot below, see if you can guess what I'm so excited about;)
Another great surprise wrapping: brother J. got a puppet of himself and was told to prepare himself for another triathlon. Ruben helped his dad to pump up his arms:)
There was a beardless version of my brother's face as well, which Ruben used as a mask:)
Nearing the end...
Last but not least: the unwrapping of brother H.'s surprise:)
My loot: a canvas bookbag; a daily calender from Loesje (poster slogans); bottle of organic elderflower lemonade; papaya/mango srub; fruity showergels; glittery princess showergel; candy; daily baking calender; Tony Chocolonely's limited edition chocolate bars with licorice bits (no longer available! Well done, Sint!!) and my chocolate J.
The end.
If anyone is interested, I could share some (translated) poems. I'm so very thankful that everything turned out okay and we were able to get-together and hug and have fun despite the big scare of Saturday. I love my tiny family <3
J.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 10:12 pm (UTC)Happy Sinterklaas to you and yours!
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:16 pm (UTC)Thank you! It's such fun to have a kid around who actually believes in Sinterklaas, after all those years with only silly adults;)
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 10:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 10:52 pm (UTC)Yay for awesome presents and having a good time! :D :D
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:23 pm (UTC)It was very different to have a kid around: we had to tone down the naughty that tends to slip in when you're with only adults;) But his enthusiasm brought us so much joy. He was adorably excited \o/
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:02 pm (UTC)All the best for B's father! What a scare! Good to hear he is doing better!
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:25 pm (UTC)I'm glad B's dad recovered immediately after surgery and we got a chance to all be together without worries on Sunday.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-01 11:30 pm (UTC)