Hi everyone. As I always say, I own none of these lovely characters, but I do love to borrow them and play!

TJ is sitting in his booster seat in Maura's kitchen licking his plate. Maura is fidgeting to take the plate.

Jane sees her girlfriend's distress and laughs. "Maur, don't worry. He's a little kid that REALLY enjoys his maple syrup!

"Are you all done, TJ? Want another snowman pancake." Angela smiles at her grandson. He's visiting for the morning while Tommy went out on a call with his mentor.

TJ shakes his head 'no' and pointed to his plate. "More!"

Angela grins and pours more batter in the frying pan. "That's my boy!"

"But, Jane, should he really be licking the plate?" Maura knows that with an extra helping, TJ would lick his plate clean again.

"Think of it this way, he's helping us conserve water. We don't have to rinse the plate before putting it in the washer." Jane grins. "It's a typical kid thing to do. Heck, even adults do it when they really enjoy a meal at home."

"I never did anything like that as a child!"

"Of course not! Your mom was a control freak, still is."

Maura raises an eyebrow.

"It's the truth and you know it."

Maura chooses to ignore Jane's comment and looks at her watch. "If TJ is finished with his breakfast, we can Skype Lore now. I think Sinterklaas will be arriving soon."

Angela was helping TJ from his booster seat. "I think it's good that you are showing TJ cultures from around the world Maura. How do you know this Lore?"

"She is the girlfriend of the photographer that my mother uses often, Lisa. I've known Lisa for years and became friendly with her. She was recently at my parent's showing them the possible photos for their Christmas card. She mentioned that Sinterklaas was arriving today and that TJ might get a kick out of it."

Jane was setting up the laptop on the coffee table in front of the couch. When the laptop was booted up, she went over to her mother. "Let me have the big guy. TJ, want to come sit with Auntie Janie?" She takes TJ into her arms.

"Auntie Jay Jay." TJ plays with Jane's curls. Jane swings him around.

"Jane! Not right after breakfast! We don't want him getting sick."

Maura smiles as she watches Jane with TJ. She thinks of the future and imagines a dark curly haired boy or strawberry blonde girl in Jane's arms. She thought of the ring she had in her frilliest drawer. Soon.

Jane settles on the couch with TJ on her lap and pats the space next to her. "C'mon on, Maur, right here." Jane gives her a wink as Maura cuddles next to Jane.

"Mind if I join in?' Angela sits on Jane's other side."So, what are we doing?"

"Well, Lisa is going to conference Skype with us and Lore any..." The computer starts to chime. "time now." Everyone laughs at the timing.

Maura presses the receiving button. "Hello?"

Lisa answers, "Hey, Maura and gang."

Lore answers, "Hi to everyone from Belgium."

Everyone on Maura's couch waves at the computer screen and there are a chorus of hellos.

"Maura?"

Maura leans in. "Yes, Lisa?"

"Lore is going to put her iPad in front of her television and then she will explain what is going on. Sound good to all of you?"

Maura nods. "Oh, yes. And thank you for arranging this for us and thank you, Lore for inviting us into your home."

"It's my pleasure. I love to share my culture. Can you see the television clearly?"

Jane shifts TJ a little and points to the laptop screen. "See that ok, TJ?"

TJ sees a woman's face replaced by lots and lots of kids on tv. He nod and points. "Red."

"Yes, there are a lot red hats and scarves. Good boy, TJ!" Jane gives him a tickle and squeeze and TJ giggles.

Lore begins her description. "Sinterklaas arrived this morning in Antwerp by steamboat, well, actually a boat decorated to look like a steamboat. He is accompanied by his white horse, Bad Weather Today, and his companion, Black Pete."

Maura gets very excited, "Oh! His horse can't fly, but it can climb on top of roofs." Maura looks at Jane and Angela, "Black Pete is not of African persuasion, maybe a Moor, but current views he is covered in soot from climbing down the chimney!"

Angela leans close to Jane. "How does she know all this?"

"It's Maura, Ma. What else do you expect of someone known for her google mouth?" Angela nods.

They could hear Lore's voice coming from behind the iPad. "Yes, that is correct Maura. They walk along miles of red carpet throwing candy, cookies and mandarins to the children."

Angela wrinkles her brow in confusion. "Can I ask a question?"

"Sure."

"Why mandarins? I mean, we throw candies during parades, but why little oranges?"

"Oh, you know how your Santa Claus lives in the North Pole? Well, Sinterklaas lives in a castle in Spain."

Angela leans back in the couch. "Well, that sounds much more comfortable for a man of his advanced age." Everyone chuckles.

Trumpets start to blare on the television and you could hear the boys in Lore's house clap and yell. TJ starts to bounce in Jane's lap with excitement.

"Can you see? That is the mayor's house and Sinterklaas is out on the balcony with his 'Naughty or Nice' book."

Jane looks closer at the screen. "He looks different than what I expected." She see a very distinguished older gentleman with a white beard, but bishop's robes and a bishop's hat.

"Yes, Jane. That is because this is based on Saint Nicholas, a real person."

On the laptop, Sinterklaas is opening his book and making a speech. His fingers go down the list and pauses. Black Pete comes over and talks to Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas nods seriously and closes his book.

Lore speaks quickly. "He just looked through his book and thought he saw a couple of naughty children. Black Pete came over and said that was a mistake, those were good kids."

Sinterklaas begins speaking. He raises his arms and makes a declaration and the crowd goes wild. The women can hear the boys in Lore's house start to whoop and a grinning face appears on the screen. They can hear Lisa laugh and yell to the boy. The boy waves and TJ waves back. TJ is clapping his hands because the boys are happy.

Lore takes control of the screen again and moves to a slightly quieter part of the house.

"OK. What happened was this, Sinterklaas said that he checked his list and then checked it again and declared that there are no naughty children this year. My boys just told me they can now get cookies, candies and toys. They are ready to start making their lists for Sinterklaas."

TJ squirms off of Jane's lap and grabs Angela's hand.

"I guess we're done. Nice meeting you, Lore. Thank you." Lore waves back at Angela. TJ and Angela go to the guest house to look for toy catalogs.

Jane reaches over and holds Maura's hand. "So, what happens now Lore?"

"Well, now the kids can look through catalog and such and make their lists. They roll them up and place the lists in their shoes or boots by the fireplace. They put out sugar cubes and carrots for Bad Weather Today, milk for Sinterklaas and beer for Black Pete."

Jane looks at Maura. "I'll drink the beer and eat the sugar cubes."

Maura tries to sound casual as she feels a thrill. "Of course you will. I take it I get the healthier parts of milk and carrot?" Maura raises her eyebrow.

Jane laughs. "Yup, that's the deal."

Lore continues. "The next morning, the letters and snacks are gone and there are candies and chocolates left behind."

They can see the top of a boy's head in the iPad and he is waving a toy catalog at Lore. Maura speaks up. "Lore. Lisa. Thank you for sharing that with us. We'll hang up now so the two of you can converse. Enjoy your holidays, Lore. Please come to visit when you come to the states."

"I would love that."

"We can definitely visit, Maura."

Everyone says their goodbyes and Maura hangs up. She snuggles into Jane's side and feels Jane's arms wrap around her.

"Listen, Maura. We have to come up with an agreement. If we are at home, we celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus. If you want to travel and visit wherever your parents are, we will celebrate whatever that culture celebrates, but let's try not to spoil them. Too much. Deal?"

Again, Maura feels the thrill of the future. "What if we are visiting Lore in Belgium during the first week of December, but are back home in time for Christmas?"

Jane rolls her eyes. "Maura!"

Maura's eyes sparkle as she looks up at Jane. Jane leans down to kiss Maura. She thinks about the ring hidden in her sock drawer. Jane has been thinking about when to propose. Thanksgiving - to show how thankful she was for Maura? Christmas - Maura was a gift to her? New Year's - the bright promise of a new year? Valentine's Day - everlasting love? Some random day? Jane wanted to decide on the date. Soon.

Hi all. No, this for once is not a holiday that I found on any of my sites, but it is an exciting day over the pond for some countries. Sinterklaas arrived on Saturday! Woo hoo for all the kids over there! As you can see, our ladies both have the same thing on their minds. (wink, wink) Hugs to everyone! My love to Belgium!