Sinterklaas

Posted by Illuci (Hurdegaryp, Netherlands) on 6 December 2007 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.

We interrupt the Leeuwarden series because today it's Sinterklaas - and it's always celebrated the evening before. Here you see how we made "surprises" - little presents wrapped in fantastic paper and board constructions, preferable referring to odd things and features of the present receiver, more or less to tease him or her, together with a teasing poem about how Sinterklaas was thinking wgat he should give to ... etc.
On the picture my son and his favorite girlfriend are trying to construct a giant pencil for a girl classmate who asked for a box with color pencils. The thing will be painted when the glue has dried, and now it has become exactly a not very straight giant pencil!
He takes his chance to mess with the glue, because his mother has found an interesting piece of text in the torn-apart newspaper page :)

I'm proud of this picture even though it's not that crisp - it is totally unprocessed, uncropped, just as it was in the camera!

Thank you for visiting my p-blog and leaving your comment and advice!

My other photo-site: click here for Flickr
My blog Today's Questions

Comments (9)

e. from Palo Alto, CA, United States

Wow, really neat! :)

6 Dec 2007 1:48am

@e.: Thanks e., it was neat, but not tidy :)

Sriram from Chennai, India

yeah... lovely candid little moments these! beautiful and the image is quite a character! very good stuff , Erik!

6 Dec 2007 3:20am

Dimitrios from ATHENS, Greece

this is a GREAT picture, thanks for the story too.

6 Dec 2007 5:52am

Wolfgang Prigge from Granby, Québec, Canada

A nice family moment of a tradition that the kids will cherish and hopefully transmit when it's their turn...

6 Dec 2007 6:50am

ManuelaR from Hainburg, Germany

Great traditional moment and they are having such fun... ;)

6 Dec 2007 3:17pm

peter from oosterwolde, Netherlands

Hi Erik,
i hope you have had a nice "Sinterklaasavond."
Menno is really having fun whith the glue.

6 Dec 2007 4:00pm

@peter: Yes, more with the glue than with the pencil (da's voor watjes, foei Menno hoe kun je dat nou zeggen). We hebben de sinterklaas uitgesteld tot zaterdag omdat dan mijn schoonbroer en zus komen.

Anne from White Rock, Canada

Lovely candid! Not crisp - focus kind of soft - but I like it! The kids look so natural and un-posed! :-)

6 Dec 2007 4:55pm

@Anne: Thanks, Anne!

Ina from Krugersdorp, South Africa

I agree! This is a beautiful photo, you should be proud! Do you have a picture of the completed pencil? Would love to see how it came out.

7 Dec 2007 4:02am

@Ina: Unfortunately the pencil is already given away, but it was completely different from the messy stick on the table: neatly dried and painted pink, with a clear point painted in brown, with a clear pink point on top of it.

Rabbit from Richmond, United States

What an super way to interpret a present. Do you just give this away or do you put pencils inside it & it gets opened later? I think a lot of people in america have forgotten how to MAKE a present to give to someone. I only find that my artistic friends do that (which i love).

11 Dec 2007 11:03am

@Rabbit: The pencils are put inside and the receiver is supposed to open it (the wrapping must make this possible without damaging it), there's always a poem teasing the receiver attached to it, which must be read loud so that everybody present can hear it, before opening the package.

from

PREVIEW ONLY

Add your comment ...

next day →

SONY CYBERSHOT
1/30 second
F/2.8
ISO 400
7 mm