Today is the official saint's day for St. Nicholas. If you're not Dutch you probably don't celebrate it, but it is such a fun holiday I decided to adopt it for my own [in case you're wondering, I'm Polish and English/Irish/Welsh]! On St. Nicholas Eve, he comes on his white horse and brings all the children candy and small gifts. Behind him is Black Peter bringing switches and coal for all the naughty children. Click on the button on the left to go to a site with more St. Nicholas fun and stories.
This year I got treats for all my friends at work. I printed a St. Nick ATC for everyone for fun (you can see it on the right). Some people got chocolate initials and Dutch sweets and mints. I also got some bakery items to share with everyone. You can see the mound of goodies I bought in the post below. Do you think I got enough?I went to the Holland American Dutch Market in Bellflower on Saturday to get all the treats. It was super crowded because it was the last weekend before St. Nicholas Day. I felt so lucky because Sinterklass (St. Nicholas) was there in person to greet people and take photos. I've never seen him before, so I was very excited!
I got some Dubbel Zout (double salt) salty black licorice for myself, but I usually don't share because most people don't like that at all! It's an acquired taste and you must really like licorice to appreciate it. Stroopwaffels are a little wafer sandwich with caramel in the middle and are so yummy! Speculaas are spice cookies; similar to delicate crispy ginger snaps. I got an extra pack for us and a pack for my mom.
I also got some imported Dutch Gouda cheese because, you know after all that candy I figured I needed some protein, ha ha! But then I only ate cheese and crackers for lunch the next day and it made my stomach hurt from all the junk. I have been snacking on all the rare treats for the whole week—a bit of cheese here, some salty licorice washed down there with a cookie and some mints for dessert. Luckily for my health, this holiday only comes once a year and I only make it to the Dutch Market every few years!
ATC is made using image from Vintage Workshop. Stitching and tag from Scrapgirls. Pointsettia from Susan Long. Font is FetteFraktur.
18 comments:
Super duper post!!!!!!
Loved reading about this... Thank you so much!
Wow this is great. Have a great day.
What a wonderful post, love the pic of Sinterklaas en zwarte piet.
Love the ATC
*lol* Lianna, your post is great! Be carefull not to overeat ;)
Love the atc!
oooh, how sweet to do something for all your colleagues. and with st. nicholas coming originally from myra in turkey, it's celebrated in many other countries, not only netherlands. thanks for sharing a caught in the act photo of st. nick!! happy sinterklaas!
what an awesome ATC..!!
i have learnt a fair bit about this wonderful day from all the posts from wonderful people..hope this gets organized again next year
Sounds you had a great time. And all the yummie things you mentioned I miss when I am on vacation :o) Have a wonderful day from The Netherlands.
You've obviously had great fun - enjoy the rest of the day.
Ros
Leuk om je Sint-belevenissen te lezen! TFS.
Thanks for this gordeous post - I love reading it - it was like feeling your fund... Have a nice SANTAS DAY !
What a fun post! You're making me hungry with the great descriptions of all those treats! Happy St. Nicholas Day!
Great ATC! I liked hearing about your adventures with your treats - sorry you had a tummy ache though! Thanks for sharing! :)
Lianna-hope your tummy's feeling better! I loved reading this post. So fun. I love licorice, but have never tried the salty kind. Interesting!
Thanks again for my marvelous rak, I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity.
awesome! all those treats sound wonderful. yes isn't it lucky that xmas is only once a year; i tend to put on several pounds and then spend all year trying to get rid of it!LOL
LOL Lianne, hope your nutritional intake is somewhat back to normal, although if your office is anything like mine it's full of seasonal treats. Love the photo of St. Nick and Black Peter - is it me or is BP a little zoned out? Sugar slump?
Happy Holidays!
Hi, thanks for the visit! Do you remember that you sent me some oriental PP a while back? Here is one of the cards I made with it
http://sketchcollection.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-card-for-arty-girlz-challenge.html
Just want to thank you because I'm too busy to share on Two Peas nowadays so you would not have seen it.
ha ha ha! i used to have a dutch boss, and every month this enormous Dutch fellow with a booming voice and who REEKED of cigarettes would come in and deliver Dutch goodies for her. He would joke with me endlessly and i only understood about 25% of what he said because his Dutch accent was so darned thick. wow, this post brought back memories. hope nobody makes a fuss about Zwarte Piet, he looks great, LOL.
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