Dutch Christmas
really begins on Dec. 5 with Sinterklaas.
It includes family dinners, shoes left outside the door to be filled
with treats during the night, gifts after dinner and often a visit from his
helper/helpers, Swarte Piet. Our sweet
friends, the Zondags in Veghal, invited us to join their family for the
evening.
It began with gourmetten, a fun, delicious way to
eat. They put grills in the middle of
the table and everyone cooks whatever thin slices of meat they choose, along
with vegetables and lots of side dishes.
We loved it!
They have 2 little grandsons, Xander and Quinton. They are so friendly and chatter away in
Dutch to us : )
There was a loud knock at the front door and when they opened it, SinterKlaas had left a burlap bag of gifts! There were some for all of us. The boys were so tickled!
The evening ended with a
visit by 2 Swarte Piets!
We added a little
touch of Christmas to Zone Conference.
The missionaries loved it and especially the funeral potatoes!
.
The Rotterdam and Den
Haag stakes put on a Christmas play. The
costumes were amazing and the play really brought the spirit of Christmas and
and helped us remember the real reason we celebrate.
Elder Lenhart and Elder Geddes participated and did a
great job!
We attended the Lelystad branch Christmas party. The entire hall was filled, everyone in the
branch must have come! There was lots of
Christmas music with the YM/YW and YSA’s singing in nearly every song. It was
the closest thing to a ward party back home that we have seen. We really enjoyed it!
Our dear friends, Jan and Franca Oostveen, invited us over Christmas Eve. She had cooked a delicious dinner with traditional Dutch food; little pork roasts and tiny potatoes with a cheesy sauce. We watched the Christmas “Music and the Spoken Word”.
Christmas Day the van Den Broeks, Anne Marie, Daniel and
Esmee’, invited us to dinner in Sprang-Cappelle. Anne Marie is from Norway and cooked another
delicious dinner with traditional dishes.
I took traditional Mormon funeral potatoes!
We had a wonderful afternoon and came home so
the missionaries could come over and Skype with their families. Elder Clemente from Spain visiting with his
family.
Our Christmas celebrations ended with a trip to Amsterdam
on Christmas Day 2 to hear Handel’s “Messiah” in the famed Amsterdam
Concertgebouw.
Hearing the
beautiful words of the scriptures recount the life and work of the Savior
through Handel’s work was the perfect ending to our last Christmas season in
the Netherlands.
No comments:
Post a Comment