Sinterklaas

It's that time of year again. And in the Netherlands and Belgium that means that we celebrate Sinterklaas. The official date is december 10th, but we celebrated it on the 8th, because my brothers, sister-in-law and parents were coming from Nederland. We had a great time. "Sinterklaas" brought packages in some big bags and as you can see in the pictures: Monty about crawled into the bags.



The boys were spoiled -as is the case when there is lots of family around and they had a great time. Funny how Monty was so excited about the presents in general, that he was just as excited to hand presents to other family members as he was to open them himself. One of the things they got was the play-dough Octopus. (that is what they are unwrapping in the picture below) Don't know if they are advertising that heavenly in the States too, probably do. Sinterklaas figured that it would be a good indoor activity during these cold winter months. Indeed they have already played with it a lot.




They also got this puzzle of the world that comes with a little woind-up plane that 'flies' over the world. Monty got very excited every time the plane made it over all continents and got back to it's starting point.
Stoney also got some bike supplies. He is really into riding his bike now and usually rides it to school (which is a 15 minute ride at his speed) a lot of days. Sinterklaas gave him a bell for on his bike and a tall orange flag so he is more visable.

We will keep Christmas kind of low key, because we did most of our presents at Sinterklaas-time. That way Christmas will be more about Christ and less about all the new toys. At least, that is the plan of the parents. :)
We will go visit my parents the day after Christmas for a few days and hopefully go to the Temple while we are there.

By the way: someone really ought to tell me how to do that 'slideshow' picture thing. It would be nice to use sometimes