"Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest."
~ Henry Van Dyke

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The Sint is in Holland and gift giving time...

Today, SinterKlaas arrived on his steamboat in Holland. It is always a big day when Sint and his helpers, Zwarte Pieten, arrive. From tonight, the children can place their shoes by the fireside for a special treat. This is done each Saturday evening until December 5th. On the evening of December 5th, SinterKlaas will leave a burlap sack filled with gifts for all the good girls and boys.

During our vacation, we had visited the open air museum and I purchased a set of nostalgic postcards of SinterKlaas. I have a frame saved to use for them. The little shop has an email address which you can see if you enlarge the photo. I am not sure if they have a webshop. Isn't the bag neat?

So my frame can be hung for the coming weeks...

The kruidnootjes (tiny ginger cookies) have been purchased which are a special treat we buy the week The Sint arrives. There are many wonderful speculaas treats in the shops now. Speculaas are my favorite cookies and I also collect the cookie moulds.

As this is the season of giving, I have decided that I am going to hold an ongoing giveaway on both of my blogs for the coming weeks. Each week, I will draw names from each blog and the winner will receive a set of four holiday coasters which I have handmade.

I came up with this idea when I knew my dust mite allergy was so severe and I now have to get rid of as much of my quilt stash as possible. I thought what better why to reduce fabrics than making gifts to share with others. It is my way of saying Happy Holidays to you my special blogging friends. I will show the coasters each week and allow you to choose if you want to enter the drawing for a specific set or all of them. Just leave me a comment on this post along with the sets you would like to win. If you like them all then please tell me to enter you for all three drawings.

I will pick a winner in a couple of days. I gave away a few of these sets last year on my handwork blog. If you won last year, you can still try again for another set this year. You can enter each week if you like, even if you have won. Since you get a set of four, you will have a larger set if you win a second time. I just love the idea of giving this year!

If you do not have a blog then you must leave me your email address in order to enter. If you do not want to leave it on a comment, please go to my profile page where you can email me.

So with no further delay, here are the three sets you can win this week...

Set 1 is red and beige with a green background...

Set 2 is black and red poinsettias and green with a gold background...

Set 3 is burgundy and green with a green background...

Good luck!

Dutch SinterKlaas song:

Zie ginds komt de stoomboot,
uit Spanje weer aan.
Hij brengt ons Sint-Nikolaas,
ik zie hem al staan.
Hoe waaien de wimpels,
al heen en al weer.
Hoe huppelt zijn paardje,
het dek op en neer.
Zijn knecht staat te lachen,
en roept ons reeds toe:
"Wie braaf is krijgt lekkers,
wie stout is de roe."

The translation to English:

See there arrives the steamboat,
From Spain again.
It brings us Saint Nicolas,
I see him standing there already.
Look how the flags,
Flutter back and forth.
Look how his little horse,
Hops up and down the deck.
His servant stands there, laughing
And he shouts at us:
"Who's good, gets sweets,
Who's bad, gets the whip."

13 comments:

Elizabethd said...

I ahve a Dutch friend here, and I heard the news about the Sint!
I would love to enter your draw, and wouldnt mind winning any one of your lovely gifts.

Anonymous said...

ooo super!!!!
hugs
françoise

Nancy said...

since I always comment on your entries, I will but you don't have to put me into the drawing. Let someone else win a gift from you. You always give me things, and YOU are my really special gift. Love and hugs and kisses.
Mom

Anonymous said...

How lovely Heidi ~ I would love to be entered for the poinsettia set.

Santa Claus has a big parade in Toronto tomorrow ~ it is the largest Santa Claus parade in the world (at least this is what I have heard!)

Enjoy your weekend.

Marie x

Amy Marie said...

Great idea Heidi! We definitely are family...add the dust mite allergy to the plate! ME 2! Thinking of you!

DonnaTN said...

Your stash loss is our gain! All 3 sets are beautiful, so of course enter my name for all. I saw the set I won last year just today and thought it is time to bring them out! How is Jos doing with the kidney stones? My e-mail is still the same: ladybug8@bellsouth.net

Ginny said...

I could never choose which set I'd prefer, so would you please enter my name for all three? Thanks, Heidi!

Joni said...

I would love to enter!! I like set #3 as it has some fabric which looks very familiar to me. One of the fabrics you gave me for my crazy quilt heart (which has yet to be finished but we won't mention that!!). Thanks, Heidi. You are the best.

Susan in SC said...

Please enter me! I love them all!

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

I remember reading of SinterKlaas. But didn't remember that the children can do this, weekly for a while.

^_^

Tammy said...

Love all the coasters Heidi! Very pretty!
Thank you for sharing the Sinterklaas song, that is one of the ones I remember Dad singing to me....I will need to call him now :-)and have him sing it again.
Hugs2u!

Jennifer Ann Fox said...

hey, I popped over to your other blog and love this post. My husband is dutch, Dalenberg.
And his family celebrate SinterKlass too, Dec 5th.
I showed him this blog and I love the music in the background.
His family moved from Holland to South Holland, Illinois 100 years ago and they have a lovely Dutch history. So glad I found this blog too!

Jennifer
Feathers in the Nest
North Ga.

Sonja said...

En heeft Jos zijn schoen (maatje XL) al mogen zetten? LOL. En wat betreft jouw onderzetters…kan ik van jou leren om ze zelf te maken? Daarvoor wil ik zelfs wel weer achter de naaimachine kruipen!