Sinterklaas - Presents evening

This evening was the biggest night of all for Sinterklaas. It is known as pakjes avond, which translates to "presents evening." It is the night before St. Nicholas' birthday, and the night all the Dutch children get the big bags of presents. We celebrated at Oma & Opa's house in Zoetermeer. A very noisy Zwarte Piet broke into the house and dropped the presents off upstairs. The noise had Evie quite scared for about ten minutes, but when she calmed down she was happy to see all the presents. As to be expected, Evie was showered with many presents- blocks, dolls, cooking supplies, My Little Pony, a play tent, DVD... everything she could wish for.

Zwarte Piet had to dump a lot of presents this year!


Evie is now a pro at opening her presents.


She examines every one.


Another Sinterklaas traditions is the poem that accompanies a present. This one Evie read all by herself. "Groetjes van Piet" or "Greetings from Pete." We all had to laugh!