Joy of Christmas

Doris Ingram looks forward to it every year.

So do her children.

“It’s a really Merry Christmas tradition for the children,” said the director of the Ben Donnell day-care facility of Child Care Inc.

Twenty of the day-care’s toddler-aged children were visited Tuesday by none other than Santa Claus himself.

But this wasn’t your granddad’s Santa Claus; this was his Dutch representative, Sinterklaas, who came to the day care with members of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program Dutch detachment.

“This is our way of saying we are part of your community,” said Lt. Col. Willem Van Gaalen, commander of the Dutch detachment at Sheppard Air Force Base.

Gaalen said that in the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas’ Eve is the chief occasion for gift-giving, much like Christmas morning in the United States.

“We call him Sinterklaas, which is really close to Santa Claus,” said Van Gaalen. “The message is the same.”

The Saint Nicholas’ Eve holiday takes place Dec. 5, and usually includes a visit by Sinterklaas who arrives on a white horse with his gold staff in one hand and his big book of names on the other, bringing gifts and holiday cheer to all the children.

Yani Van Santen, a member of the Dutch detachment, said that the age-old tradition behind the visit by Sinterklaas is based on a special birthday celebration.

“The old story is that Santa Claus was bishop and on his birthday he gave presents instead of receiving,” Van Santen said.

And much like the traditional Santa Claus, the children flocked to the white-bearded fellow with the gifts.

“They look forward to this every year,” said Ingram, as a young boy ran up to Sinterklaas to receive his present.

“This present is especially for you,” Sinterklaas said as he shook the boy’s hand.

Ingram pointed out the good relationship that exists between the daycare and the Dutch detachment.

“We give them all the names of the children and they bring the gifts,” she said. “We don’t ask for anything in particular.”

Through the involvement of the Dutch detachment at Sheppard, Sinterklaas has visited the Ben Donnell day care for more than 25 years, bringing gifts and holiday cheer to countless families.

“We have a good relationship with the Ben Donnell day care and its families,” Van Gaalen said. “All the families like it.”

But in the end it is all about the children to Van Gaalen.

“It’s great to see the kid’s faces happy,” he said.