Sinterklaas kapoentje,

"Sinterklaas kapoentje,

gooi wat in m'n schoentje,
gooi wat in m'n laarsje,
dank u Sinterklaasje."

Ahhh...  "MOM!!!  Did Santa come last night?"  Santa Claus? 
Whatever.
It was totally confusing this year.

The kids couldn't wait for the boots to go up by the fireplace and talked incessantly about Sinterklaas, but when they saw Santa in the mall, they were calling him Sinterklaas.  Which wasn't too bad except that Tristan was all excited about Sinterklaas coming with the reindeer...down the chimney...  Which of course we have to clarify:)  
And that led to how are we going to do this, the Dutch way or the Canadian way? 
So many fun things associated with the traditional dutch way, but also so confusing for the kids, and most of it's not making any sense to them due to the canadian culture.   We just really do not want to do the gift part on Christmas day as children being children, can hardly separate the birth of Jesus from Santa and receiving gifts. I'd love to hear from you my friends, how you do it, and why!
So with all that being said, we decided on a conglomeration of both:D And we told them that's what it was too.  Not full out Sinterklaas, since it was not on the 5th, but we still did the boots by the fireplace thing, and chocolate letters.  They could call it whatever. 

Andy and I so enjoy watching the excitement build, and spoiling the kids with some gifts, that hopefully get much use in the winter months.  This year Andy and I hired a babysitter and went to Lethbridge together for an evening to shop. It was fun, and so much better when Andy helps pick things out, his imagination for what's fun for little boys is better then mine, like when we went to Costco and Andy saw this rocking horse for Rowan.   Seriously? Seriously.  :)   And of course three sets of bows and arrows are way more fun then one... Yes of course.