My Family's Christmas Tradition    

      One of my favorite family Christmas tradition is to set out a pair of old Dutch shoes on our front porch on December 5. During the night "SinterKlass" fills the shoe up with candy and gifts for us to wake up in the morning to find. My dad's family is from Holland and my dad has been setting out the wooden shoes since he was a little boy. These wooden shoes have been in our family for a very long time along with this tradition. SinterKlass is like the American Santa Clause but comes on a different night of December. Most of the time he puts in chocolate candies and  dutch treats called stroope waffles in the shoe. In Holland SinterKlass does not have reindeer like our Santa Clause which makes him different. It is a lot of fun to see what he will bring us every year. There are many different Dutch candied that are put in the shoes. For example, speculaas which is like a thin gingerbread candy, chocolate letters shaped in the letter of your name and so much more. I always look forward to this tradition because of how fun and exciting it is!


By: Camille Van Gils