Sinterklaas

Yesterday I went to St Nicolas (Sinterklaas in Flemish) with my grandsons. It was organised by the employees club of my job. Each year you can subscribe for a small charge and the kids get presents. First there is a show for the kids, this year there was a magician and he did a very nice job with the kids. Then each kid goes to the saint and his helpers (called Black Peter, there is a sweets Peter, a toys Peter and so on). When you are in the big book under the names of the good children, you get a present. Our youngest grandson Jelle wasn't pleased at all to sit in the Sinterklaas's lap! He cryed his eyes out. But he was pleased with the bag of sweets and his toy, a musical book of his favourite Bumba, a little circus clown. It is costum to get chocolate, speculoos (a kind of gingerbread) and oranges as sweets. The oranges come from Spain, where the saint lives during the year. The two elder know the truth by now and the magic is lost (although Robbe, who is 7 thinks there is a fake one and there is a true one, he still hasn't decided what to think). Robbe got a jumping stick and Stein who is 9 got a magnetic dinosaur.

The big day is 6 December, when the kids will find their presents shen they get up. This year it is a saturday and they can play all day long with the toys, yippee no school!

Hubby had a very bad day, was very angry at the whole world and went into the pub. He came home drunk and had smoked almost a package of sigarets (he quit smoking last year after his surgery). Friday is the day when we will get the results of the tests he has done, so I guess more unhappy days will come before that.

Robbe won a price for a drawing he made during the carnival week of our village. He got the 3rd price in his age category. He got a voucher of 15 Euro of the toyshop and wen immediately to buy a box of Pokemon trading cards. He was so happy, he jumped for joy the whole way home. We're waiting to see if a picture will appear in the paper.