MontanaWithKids.com

Dateline: Terry, Montana
November 27, 2009
By: Bob van der Valk

Sinterklaas will be joining various festivities in Terry, Montana in the week prior to his day being officially celebrated as a holiday in the Netherlands.

The big celebration for kids is not Santa Claus around Christmas time in the Netherlands, or Holland as is it best known around the world, but a few weeks earlier. On December 5th each year the whole country stops and takes time out for family get togethers on Saint Nicholas Eve. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana
November 19, 2009

Saint Nicholas will make a visit to Terry, Montana on December 5th at the Badlands Cafe and Scoop Shoppe from 10 until 11:30 am. In Holland he is celebrated on that day and considered to be the patron and protector of children. In the Netherlands St. Nicholas is celebrated on the 5th, the eve of the day he passed away, by sharing candies (thrown in the door), chocolate initial letters, small gifts, and riddles. Dutch children leave carrots and hay in their shoes for the saint’s horse, hoping St. Nicholas will exchange them for small gifts. Simple gift-giving in early Advent helps preserve a Christmas Day focus on the Christ Child.

Bob van der Valk and his family have been celebrating the Dutch Christmas tradition of Sinterklaas, since arriving into the United States from Holland on December 3, 1956. His daughter, Inger Koppenhaver, has many fond memories of spending Christmas Eve with her father’s family awaiting the arrival of Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas. (more…)