Traditionally in NL Sinterklaas was bigger than Xmas, as in the sense of the giving gifts.
Of course with really 2 sundays on 25/26 and everybody having holiday and visiting family, christmas is very big and biggest event of the year in the Netherlands I guess as in many other places in the world.
But our giving gifts to eachother used not to be xmas eve, or xmas morning, it is/was on the evening of december 5th, actually the day before the birtday on december 6 of "Sinterklaas", Sint, Sint Nicolaas or whatever he exactly can be called. He is often confused with that other bearded guy roaming around around Xmas, and comming from the North Pole (or finland?) but this is
not the same guy. Ours has his origin in Spain, is a spanish bishop..
So as a kid, believing in the real Sinterklaas (sometimes you saw a helper dressed up like him, but of course when the real one visited our hole family at my grandma Hoogland when I was young, you new directly why this was the real one...), we looked really forward towards the eve of the 5th. Wind howling, doors rambling...was that a doorbell or someone in the back? And after you were send away to check it out, on return you just missed "zwarte piet" (the Sint's assistants) who dropped by the big bag of gifts..
Normally these gifts would be accompanied by a poem, explaning why you got it, how much trouble it took for the Sint to find it or ashaming you a bit telling things which you preferred to keep private...
In later years you become a Sint(helper) yourself, and have to buy gifts for friends and family and make poems.
The nice thing is that in this way you might even celebrate it more often: with friend, with collegues and with family...
In the time towards Sinterklaas the kids already place their shoe in front of the fireplace with their wishlist and a carrot for the Sint's horse, and in return would already receive some candy in the shoe...
Nowadays many celebrate Sinterklaas much smaller, and the gifts part moved towards Xmas. I find that a pity, since I loved always Sinterklaas, and it was nice as well for Santaclaus that he could skip NL a bit.
That especially for me gifts with Sinterklaas was also better, is simply that my birtday is on 24th december, so in this way I could think at least for 3 weeks more what to ask for my birthday which I missed with Sinterklaas
!
Aly, being from Romania actually also knows Sinterklaas, as they celebrate it as well, but smaller with just a little gift.
Greetings Ron & Aly
Maureen 
Staci