I have my Bishop’s wine (lots of it) and speculaas and peppernoten, and I’ll remember to leave out my shoes and some carrots for the horse! Hope the Saint brings you Europeans something good tonight.
D’oh. I forgot. Well, Black Pete hasn’t put me in a sack and taken me to Spain, so I must be doing something right.
Stateth capybara, " … speculaas and peppernoten …"
On first read: “speculums and peppernoten…”*
First thought: “That’s gotta hurt!”
- Yes, I know the pluralization is incorrect.
Maybe St. Nick’s buddy, the Krampus will come by and birch you as part of the winter tradition. Gotta offset all that fun and happiness somehow. Although, some people actually think a good whipping is enjoyable. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 
We had a different “pakjesavond” (Dutch gift giving night on Dec 5) then usual. Instead of giving gifts and poems adressed to someone specific, we each packaged about 6 gifts, ranging from desirable, to mundane, to regifted or otherwise unwanted stuff.
After dinner, all gifts were put in a heap on the table, and we each took turns throwing a dice. Throwing “1” or “6” meant being able to take a present and unwrap it. the otehr numbers on the dice meant you either had to give a gift to one’s left or right neighbour, taking one from his pile, or exchange gifts.
The fun part was that it soon became clear which gifts were sought after.
Of course, in the end we finally exchanged one last time so everyone got what they really wanted.
Next year we are going to do it the traditional way again, but with just adults present, it was a nice change.