When I opened the letter box and saw the envelope I instantly knew what it was. An official reply from Sinterklaas himself! An actual letter from the Sint uit Spanje! My eyes went wide, my heart skipped a beat and I made a sound that some might consider a squeal of delight. Fully of excitement I rushed up stairs as fast as I could to share the news. I burst into the living room, waving the envelope in the air like it was a winning lottery ticket.
“I got a reply! I got a reply!”
My wife didn’t even have to ask. I’d been talking about this moment for days. She knew exactly what I was blathering about without a moment’s hesitation and, like me, was instantly excited.
“Open it! Open it!” She urged me.
But I wanted to savour this moment. Forcing myself to be calm I put the envelope down on the table and for a short while we both just looked at it, pondering what might be inside. You don’t just rush opening a letter from Sinterklaas. It is an important moment in any 33 year old man’s life.
I gave myself a moment and then… when I was ready I took a deep breath, slowly picked the envelope up from the table, carefully opened it, took the letter out from inside, cautiously unfolded it and then… handed it to my wife for translation.
Translation:
Dear Child
When the boat arrives in the harbour and I see all those happy smiling faces and waving little hands, I am always happy to be back in Holland. Some children find it all a little too exciting/scary. That is not necessary. I completely understand that children can’t always be sweet and good but as I always say to my Pieten; The most important thing is that you always try your best.
I hope you’ll enjoy this Sinterklaas time and find it fun. Then we’re all happy.
Lots of greetings
Sinterklaas
|
Hallo Stuart
A long letter with a lot of questions. We can’t answer them. Sorry. We’re not sure how old you are either but… everything is good, also this letter. Bye for now.
Yours sincerely
The writing Piet
|
This is amazing! I might not have received an answer to my questions but I am still so happy to get a letter from Sinterklaas himself… and even a personal message from the writing Piet (who might be on to me that I was not completely honest about my age). Sinterklaas must have also realized I enjoy drawing cartoons because he included a colouring activity sheet on the back of the letter.Thank you Sinterklaas.
In order to get the official answer to a few of the questions I have pondered in previous posts I did this…
Do you think he will answer? I didn’t specifically mentioned that I am a 33 year old man and not a small child but I believe it is implied through the use of language and grammar.
Special thanks to AQK1982 for providing the address and suggesting the idea.
For expats living in Holland who have never heard of the name Sinterklaas or seen a Zwarte Piet before November and December can become a very confusing time of year. This much loved Dutch tradition naturally leaves them with a lot of questions. What is Pakjesavond and why are children leaving their shoes out? Who is Sinterklaas and why does he own a steam boat? Who are the Zwarte Piet and why do they seem to have gotten their shoe polish mixed up with their face cream? It can be a very confusing time of year indeed.
But fear not. All these answers and more can be found right here in this collection of useful and comical Invading Holland guides that will help you figure out what the heck is going on (just click the titles):
The Sinterklass Guide
It’s never a good idea to compare Sinterklaas to Santa Clause, not unless you want to seriously damage diplomatic relations between Holland and your own country. This humorous guide helps highlight the key differences between the two so that you never again accidentally mix them up and risk deportation.
Questioning Sinterklaas & Sinterklaas Mysteries
If you are on Santa’s naughty list are you automatically on Sinterklaas’ naughty list? If Sinterklaas spends 11 months of the year in Spain why doesn’t he have more of a tan? Is Sinterklaas an eccentric billionaire? There are some questions that it’s simply best not to ask the Dutch when Sinterklaas comes to town. These two post asks them anyway.
Sinterklaas New Stories
Every year Sinterklaas’ boat journey from Spain to Holland is diligently followed on the news. Every present over board and every rough wave is reported with the up most journalistic credibility for the children of Holland and every year the question is the same. Will Sinterklaas arrive in time? Normally he does but what if the problems he encountered were much more… challenging?
Stalking Sinterklaas
A personal story about the time I almost met Sinterklaas himself, the lengths I went to to make it happen and an interesting conundrum about what exactly is considered stalking.
Sinterklaas and Santa – (Coming Soon)
Are Sinterklaas and Santa related? No, not really. But it can be a lot fun to mess with confused expats and tell them they are.
November and December can be a very confusing time of year for expats in Holland, especially for those who have never heard the name Sinterklaas or seen a Zwarte Piet before.
If you were to ask a local who Sinterklaas was the basic description you’d receive would be something along the lines of, “He is a very nice old man who is not Santa, has a long white beard, dresses in red and gives presents in December to all the good girls and boys.”
Whatever you do, do not follow this up by asking them how that makes him any different from Santa, not unless you want to seriously damage diplomatic relations between Holland and your own country. Santa and Sinterklaas are two very different people. They just happen to work in the same area of business. There are several very key differences for identifying them:
1) Santa Claus comes from the North Pole but Sinterklaas comes from Spain and saves money on his yearly heating bill.
2) Santa Claus dresses in red with a fluffy white trim but Sinterklaas goes with the slightly more fashionable gold trim and accessorizes with a staff.
3) Santa Claus delivers presents on the night of December 24th but Sinterklaas arrives in Holland in the middle of November, does some sightseeing, delivers presents on the 5th of December and returns home in time to enjoy a quiet Christmas.
4) Santa Claus flies to his destination but Sinterklaas arrives by steam boat. It is still unknown if this difference is because Sinterklaas is afraid of flying or Santa is afraid of water.
5) Santa Claus rides on a sledge pulled by 12 over worked reindeer but Sinterklaas rides a single white horse called Amerigo, saves money on animal feed and has to remember less names.
6) Santa Claus puts presents for children under a Christmas tree but Sinterklaas puts presents in children’s shoes regardless of how smelly they are.
7) Santa Claus has an elf equal opportunities program which has helped keep the fairytale creature unemployment rate down. Sinterklaas also has an equal opportunities program and employs Zwarte Pieten who suffer from A.D.D and regularly get their shoe polish mixed up with their face cream.
8) Santa Claus gives a lump of coal to children who have been naughty so that they might learn from their mistakes. Sinterklaas on the other hand has a zero tolerance policy and orders Zwarte Piet to throw naughty children into a sack and drag them back to Spain while beating them with twigs.
————————————————————–
Looking for more? Find a full list of all humorous sinterklaas guides and posts right here:
All About Sinterklaas
Pakjesavond. 11:47pm. Friesland.
As I was handed the mysterious and brightly wrapped Sinterklaas gift I knew something was up. The giggling and sniggers my family-in-law were unsuccessfully trying to contain were a dead giveaway. I opened the poem (which as it turned out was not a poem) attached to the gift and started to read it aloud as is the custom.
“Hello everybody. My name is Stuart.”
I instantly felt nervous. It is never a good sign when you are being forced to address a group of people on behalf of yourself without actually knowing what it is you are about to say.
“When I was a young boy I went to the scouts in London. They taught me over there how to survive, making campfires and a lot of other funny things. That all might help me in the rest of my life they told me. So after that I knew that there is some basic stuff you always have to carry with you to let it be easier to survive.”
I read it word for word (including Dutch-isms), only adding the occasional “oh no” and “where is this going?” of my own.
“So now it was time for me to prove my skills to the rest of the world, I packed my trousers, shorts, socks, flashlight and a toothbrush and some other stuff and I moved to Holland. I didn’t forgot anything.”
“Till this far everything was going very well…”
Till this far the story had not been as embarrassing as I had initially feared but I knew that with a line like “till this far” that was soon to change.
“I know that when people are getting older they start forget things, it’s just the way of nature. .. but what can happen me… I’m a scout and I know how to use nature in my advantage. So probably that rule will not be written for me…”
“And then it all started to go wrong….”
I paused. “Then it all started to go wrong,” is the only sentence worse than, “till this far.”
“In the last years something happen to me, I started to forgot a lot of things, I forgot to get out the train on the right station, my toothbrush when I went to my family-in-law…. and that happened more than once….Also my pyjama l left at home… socks… and a lot of other things l didn’t tell them.”
It is true. I regularly forget to pack toothbrushes and other such things whenever we visit my family-in-law. In fact it has happened so often that I had decided it was best to stop telling them about it after the Pakjesavond when I received a life time supply of toothbrushes. In fact, the last time I had forgotten my toothbrush I decided to brushed my teeth with my finger instead and told no one but my wife… she had obviously betrayed me.
“I think it all started when I met my wife Simone, she took a place in my brains and my mind and my skills learned by the scouts where moved to the background.”
No use trying to sweet talk her out of it now. I know she told you all about the finger-brushing.
“Her family already tried to help me a few years ago with a lot of toothbrushes…”
The for mentioned incident.
“…but please Sinterklaas… Could you help me this year!!”
“Well Stuart, I already noticed your problem and send out my scout-Piet and let him made a present to solve all your problems… but remember it will be the last time that Sinterklaas will help you… otherwise next year you go into the bag with us to Spain.”
“Sinterklaas”
I still didn’t really know what to expect as I finished reading. I just hoped it was not another life time supply of dentil hygiene implements. After all this build up what could it possibly be.
Nervously I opened the gift and discovered…
That was not all either.
Inside there was a collection of individually wrapped small gifts which included; a supply of toothbrushes, tiny shower products, two plasters, a pair of socks which I did not recognize as my own at first, a t-shirt, a pair of pajamas and a pair of underwear which I did most definitely recognize as my own and thought might have been items that I had accidently left behind during past visits but as it turns out were actually nicked by my wife the weekend before… some matches, a camouflage torch, a mars bar and some chocolate coins, some string, a travel board game and a Donald Duck bubble.
Next year I will plan my revenge well…
(I actually could not stop laughing during the whole reading and as I opened each individually wrapped ‘survival item’. It was brilliant. They got me good and it was such a cool gift.)
————————————————————–
Looking for more? Find a full list of all humorous sinterklaas guides and posts right here:
All About Sinterklaas
Categories: 
