Going out with a bang! - Dutchboy- JournalHome.com

10/27/2006 - Going out with a bang!

Yep, t'is the season once again. Two shops in Enkhuizen are now devoted to Christmas and Christmas alone, there are toy sales, etc., etc. In about three weeks Saint Nicholas will arrive to this country, by steamer from Spain, and he will then terrorize parents into buying gifts for their children every day from mid-November thru December fifth. The arrival of Saint Nick is an annual nationwide televised event, introduced 101 years ago by someone from France.

The official date we celebrate Saint Nick is December 5th, but I suspect a commercial conspiracy here, that sees him arriving 17 to 23 days early, and it has to be a Saturday!, so parents have to give their children something every day, like small lego boxes, or chocolate letters, until the big night, when you have a neighbor banging on your door, after which mom and dad rush to the front door where they have hidden a big sack with bigger presents. Kids can't even wait until morning, they have to have their gifts at night. If you look at a calendar with the names of the saints, you'll find that Saint Nick's day is actually December 6, and German, French, and Belgian kids get their gifts on the morning of the 6th, but Dutch kids have to have their presents early.

Another thing about the season I worry about is the constant bombing that goes on, as soon as the letter O appears in the month, and which lasts thru early January. I swear, at times, I don't know whether I'm in Baghdad or in Enkhuizen anymore. Like so many other countries we have a tradition of fireworks to celebrate the beginning of a new year, and despite the fact that the sale is only permitted on December 30, and 31, kids seem to get their hands on their firecrackers as early as October (makes you wonder why they can't seem to get a hold of fireworks throughout the year - if you want to blow up the city, why wait until it gets too cold to end up homeless), and then there are explosions every fifteen minutes from the moment school goes out until bed time.

And of course, it isn't just the terrible noise that annoys me. Since October 1, I bring all my mail to the post office, and wait until the very last moment to bring out the garbage. Anyone else experiencing something like this right now, or does this happen a lot leading up to July 4?

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