Songbird76
Well-Known Member
Sorry! I'm just catching up now so I am way late. The Dutch don't really celebrate Christmas as a commercial holiday. It's strictly a religious thing. There are very few people who do Christmas presents, though a lot of people do trees now. When I first moved here, hardly anyone had trees....they are becoming more popular now. There is a garden store in a nearby town that does a huge Christmas display every year and we usually go to see it, but it's overwhelming for A so DH had to take him out this year after 5 minutes.
Christmas Eve isn't a "thing" here. They celebrate Christmas Day and boxing day. But as for celebrations, most companies will do some sort of party for their employees...my work had a "winter" party in November instead. I am not a party animal, so I didn't go....I think it was kind of a rave type thing with a DJ and such. So not my thing. A few years ago, they had the Christmas party on my birthday and you were supposed to sign up on a sheet they hung up in the entry and say whether you had dietary needs, etc, and they always give out a Christmas package and you could pick that up at the party. But several people didn't sign up to go and they sent an email out demanding to know our reasons for not going (you had to respond by a certain time) and saying that they wanted to celebrate with ALL the employees and they hoped we'd rethink our decision not to go. They called a meeting for everyone who wasn't attending (I wasn't at work that day) and one of the employees was so mad she stood up and told them it was none of their business if people didn't go, it's not a paid event and you can't force people into it and it was really awful that they were pressuring people. I went ahead and sent an email to say I wasn't spending my birthday at work, I was spending it with my family. They sent another saying they understood, but it would be nice if I would come anyway, even for an hour. Sorry, no. I don't like parties and I won't even be in town that day. They never did that again, but they started hosting a separate night to pick up the package and have a cup of hot chocolate instead of doing it at the Christmas party. Now they've moved away from the Christmas party and to a Winter thing.
My husband's work doesn't usually invite the wives. (it's almost all men) They do a fancy dinner somewhere with the employees (like, really fancy, with several courses and wine pairings and amuses and things you have no idea what they are and you have to google it.) They invited the wives this time because the owner of the company is retiring. He turned the business over to his sons a few years ago, but still came in sometimes, but now he's retiring completely. So we had the fancy dinner and going away for Hans. They always get gifts from suppliers, like bottles of wine, calendars, gift certificates, etc, and usually they would do a sort of lottery to give those to the employees, but this year they had so few they decided to do a trivia game and use the gifts as prizes for answering questions. I won a dinner certificate for answering "What is infected if you have 'gingivitis'?" Apparently they don't use the term gingivitis in the Netherlands so I was the only one who knew that. Yay me.
Elementary schools will usually do something like a pot luck dinner for the kids in their classrooms. Parents make something, the kids dress up, you drop them off in their class and pick them up later. A's school does a breakfast because most of the kids are bused in from other towns and can't come back in the evening for a dinner. E's school, being a high school, didn't do anything. The kids in E's class arranged a gift swap with their mentors themselves, but it wasn't a school organized thing and I don't know if other classes organized anything or not. So really, I guess it varies...Christmas Day is a mandatory day off, unless you work in the hotel/restuarant industry, but other than that, whether people celebrate or not is different depending on who it is. We're in the minority who celebrate with gifts because we have too many December birthdays around Sinterklaas (December 5th) when most people do their gifts, and because I'm American. But most people here don't bake, so Christmas cookies aren't a "thing" here either, nor is there a traditional meal.
Ugly Christmas sweaters are catching on though. I have to laugh because when I first moved here, my MIL was so embarrassed when I wore my Christmas sweater to the market. My MIL and I went to the market every Friday morning and then we'd go have coffee/hot chocolate at a cafe right next to the market square. She was horrified that I'd worn this red sweatshirt with a christmas tree on it...I don't even think it classifies as an ugly sweater. It's a turtleneck sweatshirt with a print of a tree and presents...it looks like the front of a Christmas card. Anyway, she had to tell everyone who walked past that I was American and that's why I was wearing this sweater, because she told me no Dutch person would be caught dead in a Christmas sweater. She wanted to make sure no one thought she had anything to do with it or that we were crazy people. Now, 15 years later, there's a big booming business in Ugly Christmas sweaters, and even suits with Christmas patterns on them. I still wear the same sweatshirt when we visit around Christmas time, just because I know she hates it. I love my MIL, but I have to tease her a bit, too. Maybe that's what I should get her for Christmas next year!! An ugly Christmas sweater!!! We'd all get a great laugh out of that! (yes, my MIL would laugh about it.)
But even those that celebrate, it's nothing as big as in the US. It's just dinner, some will have a tree, and some may do a gift exchange, but not on the scale of what you're used to. No Santa, hardly any decorations, no stockings, no cookies or fudge or peanut brittle, no elf on the shelf. IF someone decorates, it's probably just a string of lights in the front window or on a tree outside. Very low key. If you didn't know it was a holiday, you might not be able to tell. No Christmas pageantry or programs at school, etc.
Sorry....that was kind of a novel and an outdated one at that.
(T seems like the type of kid who would be happy no matter where you choose to go.)
Of course 
I used mushrooms instead of the sausage and James claims not to like mushrooms
