Preparing for Sinterklaas

Yesterday was officially Sinterklaas, but our family is not going to celebrate it until next Saturday, so we can have more time to get ready.

However, to prepare for it, and to get into the spirit, every few nights we have been playing Sinterklaas music and letting Zach put food for Sint's horse in his shoe. Zach then checks in the morning to see if Sint left him some candy for remembering the horse. Mostly the evening consists of a few songs, with Zach dancing up a storm, then the shoe business. However, this evening, Zach realized that MOMMY has a horse, and it should be part of the festivities. The horse I have was a gift from Joanna and Jethro Trees (from the youth group, InsideOut, that we led in Duesseldorf) as an inside joke about a pony that wasn't pretty enough. I have kept it in its box since receiving it for my birthday last March, to protect it, but the day finally came when Zach decided that the horse MUST come out. So out she came, and Zach brought the horse over to the Sinterklaas festivities and trotted her around and danced with her. Then the horse goes back in the box (where she sleeps) until the next night. I'm not sure what will happen to the horse after Sinterklaas celebrating is over. Still, it's all pretty cute and fun. When we sing, Art has a lyrics book so he can get all the words right, which is a first for him with any song.