Only 4 More Sleeps till Sinterklaas Comes!

Okay, well in North America, we still technically have 23 more sleeps until Santa Claus comes to visit us and rewards us for being good. But, in Belgium, Sinterklaas makes his arrival on December 6th. After a few discussions with my beautiful Belgian friends, Sinterklaas seems to be a very interesting man. He lives in Spain, and throughout the year, he records children's behaviours in a big Red Book. Come November, he takes a boat up to Belgium with his horse Piet. Upon his arrival, he will dock into a harbour and be greeted by the town mayor and citizens. A parade takes place honoring Sinterklaas's arrival which is televised across the nation.

On the night of Dec 5, Sinterklass will listen down the chimney to hear the children's behavior, if good, then his horse Piet will go down the chimney to see if carrots or hay were left in the children's shoes or socks as an offering for Piet. If so, he will then exchange the offerings for a gift or candy.

There really is much more to this tradition. If you are interested, then please go to this website:

Belgium Christmas Traditions

I should mention though, that the spirit of Sinterklaas in Belgium is in honour of Saint Nicholas. He sounds like a truly amazing man and it is really too bad there are more of him around in this day and age.

So, on an ending note, I hope that Sinterklaas is good to you, Ellen and Jan. I have so much admiration for the both of you and do hope that one day in the future, I can bring my family over there to stay in your newly renovated home!!