Amsterdam Day 110: Sinterklaas' First Visit

There is about a 3 week period where Sinterklaas sometimes visits people houses at night and sometime doesn't. The tradition is that you put your shoes out with hay or carrots and Sinterklaas may or may not drop of a present. I don't think there is a very clear knowledge of how often he comes during this period. For some families it seems very random. For some it seems like every week. And for a few select families, he comes every night. We shall see how often he comes to our house. 

Cameron is at the age where he is very excited about this tradition. Very early we set out out shoes. Apparently we are supposed to sing songs by the fireplace because Sinterklaas hangs out up there to hear children singing. Since we do not know any Sinterklaas sings yet, we sang the song for Sint Maartin and we sang Jungle Bells. After all, we keep saying that Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are cousins. So maybe Christmas songs work too. 

Very early in the morning, Cameron ran downstairs and discovered that Sinterklaas had in fact come to our house last night. 

The shoes are up on the mantle because we are watching a neighbors dogs and we didn't want the dogs to steal any of the snacks. Later, I'm sure the shoes will be by the fireplace. Sure enough, each of the kids had a kazoo, a little finger flashlight, and a large chocolate letter, matching the first letter of their name. Seems like a very successful first night. Who knows how often he will come in the next weeks. We shall see.