Christmas Traditions: Sinterklaas

I love this time of year, and I love it even more thanks to parents who incorporated our heritage during our December celebrating. You've read about my German traditions; so let me tell you what we do for my Dutch side...

Sinterklaas is December 6th. We all put our shoes out on the night of the 5th in hopes that Sinterklaas will leave treats and presents there during the night. If you're clever, you will leave hay and carrots for Sinterklaas' horse (we've left grass -- it works if that's all you've got! LOL) This shows what a good little child you are.

In the morning, you wake to presents in your shoes (uh, that's if you've been good -- you will find a switch in your shoes if you've been bad -- yikes!)! At our house, we always find a small present and a chocolate Black Peter or Sinterklaas and a big chocolate letter.

One year, we shared this tradition with another family in the neighborhood; we sang the Sinterklaas song my mother used to sing and shared limericks. That's another tradition you can do -- you make up a funny poem about a family member -- no one is safe. They are so fun! My Sweet Girl's into her teen years and we have more fun with this little tradition nowadays. She is really creative, so you can imagine the limericks we can come up with around here!

Treats

At this point, I've already got my German goodies in the house, so all I buy treat-wise for Sinterklaas is stroopwaffels. Here's what they look like:

and here's what they look like at my house:

Yep. Gone. This happens every year. :-)

Decorations

I have a little vignette here in the house with my Dutch things:

How do you like my Sinterklaas nutcraker? Here's another one:

I think I like him better -- he's less detailed than the other one -- but he has switches in his pack! Love it! (you may have to click the image to enlarge)

I love these traditions. It's been fun passing them down to the Sweet Girl. She takes center stage in the Swedish tradition we do in December...tune in tomorrow!

Apple Cranberry Crisp with Eggnog Sauce

This sounds perfect for the holidays, doesn't it?  This is another recipe I got from my sister Debbie, so you know it's going to be de-lish! I'm not even gonna try and give you a point count on this one ... LOL   Just enjoy!

 

Apple Cranberry Crisp with Eggnog Sauce

 

Sauce:

2 (3.4 - 4 oz.) containers refrigerated vanilla pudding

1 cup eggnog

 

Topping:

2/3 cup flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

 

Fruit Mixture:

5 cups sliced, peeled apples (Deb suggests Golden Delicious)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

 

Mix sauce ingredients together and refrigerate. In a medium sized bowl, combine fruit ingredients. Spread evenly in an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. 

In another medium bowl, combine 2/3 cup flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon; mix well. Cut butter into mixture with a pastry blender. Sprinkle over fruit mixture. Bake at 375 degrees (F) for 35-40 minutes or until deep golden brown and bubbly.

Serve warm with chilled sauce. (This also tastes good cold!)
 

picture: apple cranberry crisp

Christmas Traditions: Celebrating Your Heritage

One of the reasons I love Christmas the way I do, is because my parents have always woven in our heritage into the season. My dad was born in Germany, and Mom is from Holland. So, of course, we celebrated the holidays in a Dutch and German way! When I married my husband, we kept my traditions and decided we would also celebrate his Swedish roots at this time of year. We are a busy bunch in December -- we have much to celebrate.

On the German side -- we've done Advent Calendars as long as I can remember. My first one was from my Omi -- full of beautiful glittery pictures and surprise pictures behind every little window. I was enchanted. Later, Omi and Opa sent us German advent calendars every year; and these had chocolate ... and I was even more enchanted! LOL

I still get the same kind to this day. I just love the German art.

At my Omi's house, I would always find plates of German treats out at Christmastime when we would visit. To this day, I am instantly 5 years old when I taste a certain lebkuchen and have marzipanstollen (marzipan Christmas cake).

We used to do an Advent Wreath every Sunday when I was growing up, and this is a tradition I would love to get back to in my own little family. I haven't done it in years. I'd really like to get back to this spiritual tradition on Sundays during the season.

More later this week on what we do for our Dutch and Swedish celebrations.

Do you incorporate your heritage when it comes to Christmas? What do you do?

Everyday Unwrapped

Emily of Chatting at the Sky is inviting all of us to notice the joy,"...the messy, the lovely, and the unexpected" of this season. Read her words from last week about doing this here. I'm with you, Emily. Especially this year, I want to capture the everyday, special little moments of this season. They are gifts.

Here's one of mine:

my nephew showing me Mary kissing Baby Jesus

This is the very essence of Christmas to me -- one word --

Love.

Words to Live By

Christmas Books

Do you find there are little things that you and your family do every year at Christmastime? And if you didn't, it just wouldn't be Christmas? Lots of little traditions that weave themselves together to make it special...  Yep, me too.

One of the things I love about Christmas are Christmas stories. We collect another book or two every Christmas. We keep them in a basket, out where anyone in the house can grab a Christmas story, curl up in a chair and get cozy.

Some of my favorite memories have been... reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" aloud and then not being able to finish the last of the book because I was crying so hard! LOL Pulling out the old Little Golden books of Rudolph, Frosty and Santa's Toy Shop and feeling like I'm 5 years old again looking at the pages...and last year when our little toddler nephew Matthew was here -- he was crazy for Frosty the Snowman! We read that book over and over, and we danced and sang the song together endlessly! :-)

Does your family have favorite Christmas stories/books? Please share! (Remember, I'm collecting!)

One more thing -- here's a Christmas Book and Activity Advent at the Crafty Crow blog.  You get a Christmas book to read and an activity to do every day. Love it!

Happy Anniversary, Mr. H!

To my sweet honey-man --

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart. I can't believe we are talking 21 years already! We're way too young for that to be true. (wink) You are a great dad, and a wonderful, loving husband.

I know we joke about being George and Mary Bailey. I know it's been a hard week. I just want you to know I think you are the very best of men! No matter what -- it's been A Wonderful Life. I love you. Looking forward to the next chapter in our lives together!

(I REALLY wish I had more time to go through all our pictures and do this properly...but like the Nester says -- it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!)