Pakjesavond

Tomorrow it is what they call in Dutch "Pakjesavond". It is the climax of Sinterklaas and I dare to say that most children are now stressed to the max! Especially since they have a daily Sinterklaas newsupdate on tv, and every year it's the same: everything is going wrong and no one will get any presents. Most kids have sleepless nights over that!

Wow, now that I think of it, it is actually a pretty cruel tradition...

Nevertheless, there are tons of Dutch books about it. I found one at our local grocery store, that was so adorable, that I just had to share some of the pictures with you! It kind of reminds me of two of my favorite illustrators, Ingela P Arrhenius and Dawbis.

Just a small recap for the non-Dutch: Sinterklaas comes to The Netherlands every year by boat, because he actually lives in Spain. He brings his little Helpers, called Zwarte Piet ("Black Pete", not too politically correct, by the way). On December 5th, he celebrates his birthday (which is on Dec. 6) by bringing all children presents. During his stay in The Netherlands, kids can put their shoe by the back door or the mantlepiece and Sint and Piet will put a present in the shoe if the children sing a song. Sometimes they add a little something for Sinterklaas' horse, Amerigo.






So tomorrow we'll have lots of presents! Yay!