Sinterklaas is celebrated on the evening of 5 December in the Netherlands but he worked around the schedules in the community so that he could come a couple of days late. Traditionally, if a child were good, presents would be given - but if a child was bad, Zwarte Piet (Black Pieter), Sinterklaas's helper, would put him/her in his sack to take to Spain where Sinterklaas lives (Seeing as a lot of Dutch people vacation in Spain because of the warmth, it does seem a bit of an odd punishment). Nowadays, Sinterklaas just brings presents (and sometimes quite large ones).
With the present comes a poem. And the present has to be wrapped in a "surprise," which generally means creatively designing a package for the present that has something to do with the present or the one receiving it. This can take hours and sometimes involves papier-maché and sometimes involves an waterproof container that needs to be fished out of several litres of pudding... Often the poem and surprise are the best part of the present - and both allow give ample opportunity to tease and annoy each other, making present giving fun for adults, too.
To see photos of the day, check out the pictures on Facebook, as well as Tom's blog entry on Sinterklaas (which was up in a much more timely manner).
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