A Kaleidoscope: Sinterklaas and Christmas Cheer

We are in the Christmas spirit over here! We started by taking part in the merriment for Sinterklaas which was on Dec 5th, however there have been various Sinterklaas events taking place all over Den Haag since November 12th when Sint arrived by boat in Scheveningen! This has been cool because while it is a holiday we all grew up knowing about, we have never really celebrated it in its true form and where better than the Netherlands to start:) Unfortunately we missed the actual parade, but ever since there have been Zwarte Piet's playing music and throwing pepernoten wherever they go and we even had the honor of meeting Sinterklaas in a local pub (FYI he drinks beer and smokes, don't tell the kids!)

This past Sunday we were invited by someone we met at Church to celebrate Sinterklaas with her friends and some others from Church. We got to participate in the traditional game, which plays much like a white elephant gift exchange except that you can end up with more than one present or on the other side with nothing, its pretty intense! Suffice to say, between the three of us we ended up with quite a bit of loot to take home with us. It was a really fun evening and we had a chance to meet a bunch of new people, many who attend the church we have been going to. That was really nice because since we are not working or even around super consistently it makes it hard to meet people, they were great and we had a good evening of fellowship and Sinterklaas cheer!

On Monday (officially Sinterklaas) Joel, Alicia and I exchanged some small gifts that we had bought for one another through a name exchange. We of course all received a yummy chocolate letter and other goodies! It was a fun way to celebrate the day.

Now that Sinterklaas has gone and past, everyone in Den Haag has switched there gears towards the Christmas season! Stores quickly replaced Sinterklaas treats with Christmas wares and the Christmas trees came out! We did not plan on getting an actual tree this year, because our place is not super big and because we will be travelling around a bit this Christmas season. However after talking with my parents we decided to go for it, as we will actually be around at Christmas and with family here it is really nice to have the house feel cozy and Christmasy! So now in addition to the many snowflakes Alicia and I crafted, the candles, the music, and yummy Christmas food, we will have a tree!! There is a lot of Christmas cheer in this house and we love it! A little snow at this point would actually be kinda nice, but at this point we have only had some wind, rain and lightning storms.

My parents arrive a week from today and we are super excited!! It is going to be a busy Christmas season, but a very special one as well. We are looking forward to spending this time with family and having the opportunity to spend it in a few different countries as well!! We feel very blessed.

Here are some pictures from our Sinterklaas and the beginning of Christmas