Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is celebrated on 6 December by all children in Belgium. What Christmas eve and stockings are for children in the Anglo Saxon world, is what Sinterklaas is for Belgian kids.

So in the tradition, Mira left one shoe under the chimney (well, on a table in the living room then) with a carrot for Sint's horse, and a beer for his assistant Zwarte Piet.

By the time Mira discovers this blog, she'll be old enough to know the reality behind Sinterklaas, so I can say now that Jeroen and I had been working for a few weeks beforehand to have Mira's gifts ready. She is at the right age for a doll of her own and pretend play, so I made her a doll (with help from friends- thanks Greet and Megan!) and Jeroen fashioned a bed out of an orange crate, with a mattress, pillow and sheets.

In the morning, Mira was most excited to find a clementine in her shoe (tradition) but is since permanently atatched to her doll, taking her to bed each night... Mira's doll is called Gudia, has her own diaper and bib, which is very important for Mira right now- she regularly checks the diaper to see if its wet :-)

Next project: Christmas present. We're making something along the lines of this. Aaah, the joys of parenting!