Today was a full day of Sinterklaas Celebrations.

We started at 7:30 am this morning when we all left for the Sinterklaas breakfast that was being hosted by the Dutch community.

There were so many choices from biscuits, to chocolate croissants, rolls with ham and cheese, fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, and krentebollen. And of course, tea and coffee and chocomilk.

After the breakfast, Sinterklaas arrived at the school to greet all the children. The classes came outside to wave and sing to him as he addressed the crowds. The excitement in the air was catching!

Charlie was lucky enough to shake Sinterklaas’ hand when he walked by.

The weather cooperated and was sunny all afternoon until after school pickup time. Here is a picture from Amsterdam near Jeff’s office:

And here’s a couple pics from after the snow fell and fell:

After school, we were anxious for Sinterklaas to arrive and weren’t sure how or when we might see him as he is very busy, and we’re new to this tradition. We decided to try Chinese food for dinner tonight, as its been on Christian’s wish list since we moved here! The restaurant we chose is near our house and was very delicious. We’ll definitely come back!

While we were at dinner, the snow fell again and the kids had fun making tracks and snowballs. Driving home, some kids threw snowballs at our car and we thought that was very funny and teased them back.

We were out just long enough, because when we came home, we saw foot prints leading away from our front door in the snow. And when Charlie walked in, he was the first to notice that Sinterklaas had visited our house while we were at the restaurant and left each of the kids a big sack filled with treats, candy, pepper noten and a chocolate initial for each of them. He was so excited and jumped for joy. He said today was the best day!

The day was truly magical and I was excited by watching the snow fall and seeing how happy and surprised Charlie was by all his Sinterklaas treats.

Life is good.

Happy Sint!

Love, Adriana