We're going back in time to 2008, I suspect. Sinterklaas comes to the Netherlands.

I've been struggling with the Sinterklaas era for quite a while. I think it's a nice and exciting time for the kids, but I can't lie to you. Don't get me wrong! I am not a saint, but I am a firm believer in the truth. And then the Sinterklaas story that most people tell their little children isn't for me. I participated faithfully, especially because my children can't ruin it for other children by telling the truth. But I have always said that if my children ask for the truth, I will also tell them in their own language.

And then came that particular day when Sinterklaas would arrive in the Netherlands. I was sitting at the table with the children, until our son suddenly asked: “Mom, how old is Santa Claus?“I told him that this holy man was very old. I saw him thinking and he looked at me in amazement and said, “But is that man never going to die?'

That was the breaking point for me and I told the story of the Bishop Nicholas of Myra, that he died on December 6, and that people thought it was such an incredible idea that he was so kind to people that they wanted to continue it. And that's how the Sinterklaas tradition was born. I also explained that there were a lot of help, Sinterklaasjes, and that the black piers are his helpers. And that the black on their faces came from the soot from the chimneys.

So said and done.

A few hours later, while I'm still tinkering, they sit expectantly in front of the television. Suddenly, my daughter comes to me and says resolutely: “Mom, I understand that Sinterklaas is not real, but those black piers are really real!

I just left it that way.
And years later, we all had a good laugh about it.


Pictures of our children when they were a little younger before we told the Sinterklaas story.


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