Pakjesavond

The night of Dec 5th is called "Pakjesavond", or 'evening of packages', where Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet secretly delivering presents to your house. The custom is that the children (and anyone else in the house) should sing loudly, so Sinterklaas can hear them and drop by their house to deliver the presents. If Sinterklaas doesn't hear your singing, he might pass by without knowing that there are children who deserve his presents in that house. Zwarte Piet, the helper of Sinterklaas, always spread strooigoed (sweet treats to throw around) wherever Sinterklaas goes, and that is the sign of his presence.

So, last night I and Syb prepared something similar to those happenings. It's a pity we don't have any CD containing Sinterklaas songs, so we had to browse on the Internet for something we could use. There's a site for karaoke, songs with midi, complete with lyrics. Not bad.
So, after dinner, Syb brought the iBook over the front room's bed, then we sang songs that Dhanu picked from the list. Lindri could also sing the tunes, though the words didn't come out too clearly. Me? I know lots of Dutch children songs, but not for this specific event, so I always had to peek at the lyrics. As planned, when the kids were deeply occupied with singing, Syb slipped away (as if going to the toilet), sneaking to the kitchen. He wore a black glove and threw strooigoed at us, from the kitchen. That was such a surprise, this strooigoed rain, since loud noises occurred when they hit a hard surface.

The throwing went on several times, while Dhanu was being amazed, staring at the direction to the kitchen, but could see nothing except Syb's gloved hand. Lindri, in the meantime, didn't bother investigating - she was already busy picking up and stuffing her mouth with the pepernoten and candies. Before throwing the sweets, Syb already secretly pushed our rattan laundry basket (filled with presents) to the dining area.
Not long after the sweets-shower stopped, Syb appeared from the toilet's hallway, acting surprised. Dhanu rightaway updated him with the latest situation - he was excited but trying to keep cool. Syb asked Dhanu if he wanted to catch the Piet, while they're not far away yet. The door to the balcony was a bit open, and cold wind came in. We could feel the chilly wind, and that added to Dhanu's excitement. But he wouldn't go chasing the Piet. He wouldn't even run to the basket full of gifts, just sitting and smiling there eagerly.

Syb brought the basket over and let Dhanu remove the lid. It was full of presents! Dhanu had to identify each present by reading the letter written on each, then gave it to whom the initial was written. One by one, so everyone can enjoy each other's expressions when opening their gifts.
My parents also took part in this game, by giving me a couple of things to wrap and be included in the Pakjesavond. Lindri got a playing mat (a mat with roads, houses, etc, printed on it), a LEGO mini racing car, Dora underwear and hairpins, books (a Sinterklaas sticker book and Hexa kan niet heksen by Tijn Snoodijk)... Dhanu got a Bionicle (red spider variation), a Meccano (helicopter/ fire truck set), a pair of pajamas (orange, his favorite color), a book (M is een Monster, also by Tijn Snoodijk - "My favorite book!", Dhanu claimed), a small Transformer... Syb got books from me: Een indruk van Echtheid (a collection of comics essays by Joost Pollmann) and Tover mijn verhaal (published by Teken Mijn Verhaal Foundation, where Dutch comic artists drew stories based on disabled childrens' requests). I got a set of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (one package for two volumes) and, a real surprise: a DVD player! Aah.. it will be a comfy change when the kids don't have to fight over space again when watching movies from my iMac, and they won't be able to fiddle with the keyboard and mouse anymore (*phew*).

The night continued with, of course, constructing all the Bionicle and LEGO and Meccano and playing endlessly. I'm glad Dhanu really likes all his present and he didn't like one more than another - all are equally big scores! And I like to see that he didn't behave greedily. His expressions were mostly overwhelmed and awed, while also trying to constrain his overjoy. Lindri felt the excitement and she, too, could already appreciate her new things. Bedtime is usually around 20:00, but last night we let the kids enjoy their presents, until they voluntarily fell asleep (at about 21:00).
It's good that Dhanu's school makes the rule of starting classes at 10:00 in the morning today (instead of the usual 08:30), considering most kids would stay up until late for their new presents. Because, really, in the morning Dhanu was again fully occupied with playing, and having some extra time in the morning gave him time to accept the fact that it's not holiday yet. He still has to go to school.
Lindri doesn't have to go anywhere today (she goes to her daycare center only on Mondays and Wednesdays), so I could wake up late. I thought. But no, Lindri woke up too early as usual and started demanding things from me (Feed me! Read me this book! Give me some water!). That's a bit tiring, because I spent last night finishing Persepolis, both volumes (really a good read! I'd reccommend it to everybody!).

For us, the festive season just started.. there's going to be Dhanu's birthday, and Christmas, then my birthday.. Anyway, it's time to pick up Dhanu from school now. He'll have a friend coming over. Until the next news! :)


Image: Strooigoed from Wikipedia