Sinterklaas, the tooth crackers and a pink elephant

At Sinterklaas, everyone has their own traditions. One celebrates with the whole family, including drawing lots, poems and mega surprises, the other keeps it small with some sweet niceties in the shoe. And when the children have left home, it is possible that Saint Nicholas will come by for a very long time - or never again. It happens.

So it happened that when our son was born, Sinterklaas was suddenly at the door again and from mid-November people sympathized with the Sinterklaas news. Dieuwertje, ginger nuts, the Video of Sint was ordered here for years in a row, we went to the Sint movie together, bought a Hema pietenpakje for pietengym and of course let the neighbor bang on the door loudly with package evening.

The pink elephant

To scare away the pink elephant, Zwarte Piet is here in all his appearances - black, brown, white, pink, purple, soot wipe, stroopwafel - just the great friend of Sinterklaas. We looked at it ourselves to see how the reaction would be, but our son thought everything was fine from an early age as long as Piet wears a nicely colored suit, is cheerful and gives ginger nuts. No Pete Drama here.

I believe... er, not anymore

And then the day came. We were cycling home from school somewhere on a carefree beautiful summer day. No problem in the air, so the surprise really came like a thunderclap from the clear sky. The tooth fairy. Jolien had said that the tooth fairy does not exist. I tried to save it with: "How sad that the tooth fairy can't find Jolien's house". But it was already too late, the first lamp in The Truman Show* had clattered down mercilessly. Then the Easter bunny died, then the tooth crackers and finally the gnomes also had to believe it.

Our entire fantasy world wiped out in one year

Only Sinterklaas... let's just leave it that way, that man only becomes really important again around the beginning of November when the Intertoys catalog falls on the mat. Last year I thought I felt the storm coming. The master had already warned us as parents at the beginning of the school year 'not to lie' and would therefore tell the truth when 'the question' came up. That was quite a shock for us as curling parents** , but we accepted it. 'Let it go like Elsa' is ultimately the eternal mantra for every parent. Yet Sinterklaas went just like other years, singing at the mailbox, empathizing with the Sinterklaas news and Jan Boerenfluitjes was cheerfully quoted. But it was already clearly in the air. denial phase.

On a relaxed Sunday morning, with a fresh croissant and a nice cup of coffee from the Nespresso, the high word came out this year. Or I knew that Sinterklaas does not exist. A little disappointed, I put down my mug and sighed, "Please don't tell Dad? He still believes." But of course that was no longer possible. It's definitely over. Only our dream treehouse still exists, I'll tell you what that is sometime.

*Truman show

I still think about this film very often when I work with social media for my work. Instagram is actually a digital Truman Show... A lamp falling from the sky, that's the beginning of the end in that movie. Nice movie tip by the way!

**Curling parents

Long story short: parents driving back home for a toy because it's toy day. From own work. Below is a further explanation and the origin of the term.

No Sinterklaas this year?

Of course it is, the Sinterklaas news has not been missed once and the shoe is set, but this year the three of us will buy each other a present. We are making a new tradition. And you? What are you doing for Sinterklaas this year? If you are still celebrating the party or are inspired to do something with it again, then I have a few more happy gift tips that I don't want to withhold from you. You can easily order the gifts online from mostly Dutch and Belgian webshops that sell beautiful products, provide good, happy service and are more than worth a visit.

Speaking of teeth crackers

Did you know that you can have dentures made in one day at Vinktandtechniek ? This all-round laboratory for dental technology has all disciplines and specialties in-house. As a result, they can offer a unique, fast and high-quality service. Useful!