We are excited to share the story that won 2nd place in the 2023 BK Newspaper Holiday Writing Contest! The second place winner chose to remain anonymous. Congratulations!
Sinterklaas
I grew up with both parents from very different places than Idaho. Because they both came from very different cultures, that means they also come from very different traditions. We have a lot of the usual Christmas traditions like watching Robert Zemchis’s Polar Express on christmas eve, or putting up our christmas tree right after thanksgiving. But one of the traditions I always loved was Sinterklaas. I never knew this wasn’t a normal tradition until elementary school when I told my classmates that Sinterklaas was coming tonight. They would reluctantly say “who is Sinterklaas?”. This Dutch tradition my mom very proudly took part in occurs every december 6th. On the eve of December 5th you put a pair of shoes by your front door for Sinterklaas to leave presents in. I used to put out the biggest pair of shoes I could find like boots instead of tennis shoes, or even using my dad’s shoes, thinking that Sinterklaas would give me more if the shoe was bigger. It is a fun pre Christmas tradition that has a cool history. We used to always get christmas movies to watch on christmas, candy and some other little gifts. My family always used this tradition to start off Christmas, and to keep my mom’s old family traditions going as well. I always saw it as a way of having two Santas. I had my own santa claus (Sinterklaas) and I had the Santa Claus everyone else knew, the December 25th Christmas Santa. I was always so proud to have a tradition like this and to have an extra santa than everyone else. But what I’m thankful for now is that I have so many different traditions and cultural histories that have influenced how I see christmas and celebrate it with my family and friends.
The Bishop Kelly Newspaper 
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