Love this dress that my Mom got us from Hanna Anderson's...
Bas and his sister's boyfriend (also named Bas!)
The pile of "Surprises" brought by all the adults for other adults... kind of like a Secret Santa, but much more fun... more on that later.
And here he is! Sinterklaas, and one of the Black Pete's...
All the kids get very nervous, because they know if they haven't been good, they might not get anything!
Luna was fascinated by the whole thing, until it was her turn... see following photos!
She sat there and listened to him for a minute, but then practically crawled over Bas's shoulder when it came time to sit on his lap.
Dana was very excited...
And Luna was safe back in her chair!
Then came the sacks of gifts! Luna definitely knows the word "pwesents" now, and loves the whole concept!
Luna got a Miele vacuum cleaner just like Mommy's, and loves it as much as I love mine!
And then another that was twice as big as her...
A cool wooden bike! These are very popular here, and I love them because unlike our trikes and training wheel systems, these teach a child to balance, before they have to worry about peddling... We were worried she might be too small for it, but she's almost big enough for it already, so it should be perfect by Spring! She saw it in our hallway, still in the box on Tuesday, so I told her that Papa would put it together when he got home. Sure enough, the minute he walked in the door Luna demanded that he "fix it!"
And then she got a lovely little Baby Born doll in a carrier. As soon as she saw it she exclaimed "Luna's favorite!" Her new "favorite" thing to say...
All the ladies had to help!
Then we started "Surprises" (pronounced Supreezes in Dutch) The concept is similar to Secret Santa, because you draw a name, and then get that person a gift for a pre-set spending limit, acting as Sinterklaas. But it gets a little more complicated than that because you also have to write a poem to accompany your gift, which should have something to do with the giftee, as well as the concept of the gift and its contents. Then you also have to build something that you hide the actual gift in. Generally it is large, hard to open, embarrassing, messy or problematic in some way. Pressure for the new girl? Nah. I wrote my poem in the car, on the way there, that morning... it wasn't bad - started with "Roses are Red..." and was in English, but it rhymed! Here was my recipient, Peter. He likes soccer, so I made a ball out of clay, hid the gift inside, and then painted it after drying.
Unfortunately, he opened it with one good tug. The clay was still wet on the inside! Oh well, lesson learned!)
Merel's gift (Bas's sister) reflected her passion for animals by representing each of her three pets...
All while Luna played with her favorite new baby. (By the way, she usually uses the term "favorite" rather indiscriminately, but this baby does indeed seem to be her new favorite.)
Bas had to go on a hunt for his gift.
Harald got a JVC briefcase and a very naught poem, my innocent ears were fortunate it was in Dutch.... :) Harald works for JVC
Bas got the most intricate diarama, it was really impressive! Bas and Merel have a garden plot and love to spend their time there, so it was of appropriate relevance!
Maria got a big box of Risotto rice.
Bas's Aunt had recently made her first go at Karaoke on a vacation, so her gift was hidden in a life-size microphone.
Bert, who loves to do woodwork got a hand crafted puzzle of the Sesame St. charachter "Bert."
And Joke (Bas's mom) got a wooden camera (she loves to take pictures and just got a new camera)
Bas (my Bas) did Martijn's gift. Since Martijn and his wife just bought a new house, Bas got them a housewarning present. A plant ofcourse. (Yes, we drove this down in the car with us!) It was festooned with money, mostly in small coins, wrapped in impenetrable tinfoil. It was getting late so a few people pitched in to help.
Dre got a giant hot water bottle, a replica of his newest accessory...
After the party, Bas and I were treated to the opportunity of leaving Luna with Oma and Opa for the night, something we usually do when we go visit. It's great because Bas and I get to go out and have a little adult time together, with just the two of us. We really appreciate the opportunity, and I think Oma and Opa love to get to have Luna.
This was the DJ at the place we went to. I took a picture because he was running his whole system out of his briefcase, I thought it was too funny!
We met up with Bas's good friend Jaap, who we haven't spent much time with lately at Bas's favorite place - Studio, right on the Grote Markt (Big Square) in Haarlem.
Luna and Dana playing with their new presents the next day. Luna ADORES Dana, follows her around, and is rather demanding of Dana's attention. And Luna can be a little dictator "Sit here! Sit here!" And Dana is wonderfully patient with her, although her nerves do get tested!
With Merel's dog Kees (funny story - I just asked Bas how to spell this, and when he told me I confessed that I always thought it was Kaas - which means cheese!)
Dre loves to hold babies... :)
On Sunday the shops were open, so after a family breakfast, we went out to do some more shopping (I love the shopping there so much better than in Germany!) and we went up to the top of a department store called V&D to have lunch. The views of Haarlem were great. (For any Americans reading this, who don't know - our Harlem in NYC was named after this Haarlem by the original Dutch settlers.)
If you look just beyond that domed roof (which was the old jail) you can see the port of Amsterdam.
And finally after getting home, we've been re-bequeathing Luna's gifts day by day. Here she is with the vacuum!
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