Sinterklaas.

Today is Sinterklaas in the Netherlands.This has nothing to do with Christmas. This goes back I think to the 1500 or 1600. There was a great Bishop from Spain and he traveled North to be good to all the children.Also in the early years in Germany to express the Birth of Jesus they decorated the fur trees in Honor of the Birth. Then later in the U.S.A they combined the two. That has to do a lot with different people from different Country's. I do remember , when I was a child we set out on Dec. 5 or shoes for Sinterklaas to put in the gifts. A wooden shoe does not have a lot of room,so the gifts where small.Mostly candy. Then on Christmas we had a tree with real candles and only had them on at twilight. Then Christmas Eve you went to church. My founded memories are when I was with my Grandma in a small town. The church was small but cozy. A lighted tree, hot chocolate and we got a orange. Afterwards walking back to Grandma's home. Then I went up the ladder to sleep under the roof.What a peacefull time.That all happend when I was about 10 years old in 1937.