Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Call me Zwarte Piet

This year, I decided to play Zwarte Piet in every sense of the word. I sewed a set of five coasters for Carolien and her family. You are supposed to wrap it up to make it a surprise. So I merged two cultures and it went secretly on its way to their house. Guess the mailman thought their house was the North Pole. *grins*


Now, a surprise on Pakjesavond always comes with a rhyme and this was a challenge for me. The poem connects what the gift is and her home. She lives in a pretty house connected to the church which is where I secretly put them in the mailbox. Here is my poem which I will translate. Keep in mind this does rhyme in Dutch although not in English...


De Sint had een mooie naaimachine,
Maar wist niet hoe je hem moest bedienen.

(The Sint had a beautiful sewing machine,
But did not know how to use it.)

De Pieten zaten aan de thee,
En hadden in eens een brilliant idee.

(The Piets were having tea,
And had, all of a sudden, a brilliant idea.)

Bij een mok thee hoort er iets onder,
Want een vlek op tafel is echt zonde.

(There should be something under a mug of tea,
As a stain on your table is really a shame.)

Ze pakten de stofjes en gingen aan het werk,
Het kado moet nu af en snel naar de kerk.

(They grabbed fabrics and went to work,
The gift had to be finished and rushed off to the church.)

Dus de pieten werkten zich te pletter,
Op deze mooie ……….

(So the Piets worked themselves to the bone,
To make these pretty ..... )

Van de handwerk Pieten!

(From the Handwork Piets!)


Carolien says she has them around her living room now to use when they drink their tea. I had so much fun playing Piet for her!


9 comments:

Nancy said...

They are really pretty. I just know Caorlien and her family are very happy to have a special Piet drop this into their mailbox. I bet it didn't take her long to know who Piet was. LOL.
Love Mom

Sonja said...

Wat een is dat een leuk pakketje geworden! Gelukkig is het goed gearriveerd.
Liefs Sonja

P.S.(heb je mijn sms gehad?)

Saskia said...

O, you are a dutchgirl now!
You can rhyme and make a surprise..
The envelope is a gift on his own! love it.

ps. You have to wait a while on my blog, it starts in black but after a few minutes it has loaded the new backround. So take a cup of tea with you when you want to read my blog...
Saskia

Meari said...

What a fun thing to do!

DonnaTN said...

Another set of beautiful coasters. I really like the fabric on the back. You are a sweet friend.

BittersweetPunkin said...

Hi Heidi...popping in here too...love the little package with the coasters.....very pretty!

Linda said...

Hi Heidi....clever little poem and these coaster are very pretty...love the postal package too..hugs, Linda

Annemarie said...

Oooh, that looks like such an exciting package! And the coasters are simply marvellous.
Hope you're feeling better, Heidi. Me and my entire family have been fighting these colds since the end of August! It's a good thing that you have Dagi to look after you, though :o)

Carolien said...

O wow! Your pictures are much better! In my next entry I will refer to your post ...

Hugs, Carolien