Christmas... Worlds Apart

(Christmas 2012 and New Year 2013 have come and gone!  Here is a belated post on Christmas, drafted before Christmas but never got posted until now.)

Christmas in the Netherlands is a quiet and simple affair.  Actually, there are two traditional celebrations - Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas Day) which happens on 5 December, and Christmas itself.

There is a lot more hype and anticipation surrounding Sinterklaas, perhaps because the children get their presents on the days leading up to and including Sinterklaas.  All schools celebrate this day in a big way, and kids blacken their faces and dress up as Zwarte Piet, St. Nicholas' mischievous little Moorish helper.

To get the kids even more excited, St. Nicholas arrives on a steamboat from Spain in mid November!  Kids (and their parents) line the harbour and streets to welcome him and his Zwarte Piets as they parade through town.

After all that excitement, you can see why Christmas is a muted affair.  Additionally, tradition dictates that there can be nothing relating to Christmas until after Sinterklaas is over.  No Christmas trees, decorations, songs, etc., it is a big no-no.  I only found this out recently, after putting our tree up in mid October (gasp).  No wonder I couldn't find any Christmas decorations in the shops.  I just assumed that they were not very keen on selling them.

Here are some shots around our neighbourhood, taken on a Saturday two weeks before Christmas:

Solid piece of frozen ice on our windshield.  This is our third winter and I still find it fascinating to have ice on our car.

It was very hard to scrape off, even after spraying a solution to dissolve the ice.

After a spot of ice-scrapping, we went for a walk in the neighbourhood.  The Christmas tree stall was doing roaring business.  Stalls like this sprout up by the sidewalk in many neighbourhoods after Sinterklaas.  The Dutch prefer live pine trees for Christmas, which has to be taken down before New Year. (It is now 13 January and our tree is still up!)

Bus stop advert.  You can have Jamie Oliver 'cook' for you at Christmas.  Just pop into the nearest Albert Heijn supermarket.

Our favourite kebab store, which stays open till 8pm, yay!  Actually, it is our only "tar pau" option in the neighbourhood.

Christmas/Sinterklaas deco.

Live floral arrangements at the local florist.

Street Christmas deco.  Low-key is the way to go.

It was a little bit more festive at Nieuw Engelhard, our favourite neighbourhood cafe.

And at the other side of the world, you have Singapore, the mecca of consumerism.  There is so much Christmas deco that you wouldn't know where to look.  Fantastic decorations are the norm, year after year - you would easily take it for granted.  Until I came to the Netherlands, I thought floor to ceiling Christmas trees were standard decoration items, haha.  Take a look below:

Bulgari Christmas tree at the foyer of Ngee Ann City, complete with crystal encrusted ornaments and blue fairy lights.  Three storeys high.  Yes, wow!

Grand Hyatt's tree at the lobby.

Paragon's giant tree and 3D orange snowflakes.

Tangs had beautiful white and lavender hanging topiaries.  It was like a fairy land.  This photo doesn't do it justice, you would have to see it yourself. 

Decadent?  Yes.  Over the top?  Definitely.  Fake?  Obviously.  But you can't deny that it does bring out the festive feeling (that, and the urge to buy).  One thing is for sure, they are certainly beautiful to look at.  So I say, walk around and just enjoy this once-a-year expensive spectacle if ever you are in Singapore.  And for Singapore residents, count yourself lucky!