December is here and with it good cheer, at least we hope so. In the run-up to the New Year, here are some of the things you can do to alleviate or increase festivity-related stress. Keep breathing, January is just around the corner.

Ask Sinterklaas a question
Sinterklaas will be staying at the Catharijneconvent in Utrecht until December 5th to prepare for the big present push and to answer questions from young guests who are cordially invited to drop in.

He has already been asked if he is married, owns a pair of swimming trunks, and if he goes to the toilet every once in a while, so please think of something else. Until December 5. Website

Spot Tiny Tim in Deventer
Deventer loves Dickens and is celebrating his work for the 33rd time. For two days, Dickens enthusiasts populate the picturesque Bergkwartier streets of the town dressed as one of his many characters. So get ready to shake hands with Mr Micawber, raise a glass with Sarah Gamp, avoid Uriah Heep and spot Tiny Tim listening to the carol singers. December 13 and 14. Website

Pop in to Puck & Hans
Puck & Hans, the favourite fashion label of the Dutch stars of the 1960s is back with a pop-up shop at their old address on Rokin 66 in Amsterdam. Puck Kroon (84), the surviving member of the duo, is selling vintage Puck & Hans clothing as well as a brand-new collection designed with Dutch label LaDress. December 8 to 31.

Be a lumberjack for a day
The Hoge Veluwe natural park is inviting intrepid aspiring lumberjacks to fell their own Christmas tree. Boast about your woodland skills and hide that almost severed thumb as you enjoy your very own DIY tree. You will be doing the park a favour as the pinus sylvestris encroaches on the park’s shifting sands and needs to be shifted. Saws are provided. December 13 and 14. Website

Take a hike
Staatsbosbeheer has put together some bracing winter walks, ambles and strolls to work up an appetite for the Christmas feast, or work off its effects. And not a wolf in sight! Website

Visit Mokum
Mokum, in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, tells the story of Jewish Amsterdam, from the 16th century to the present day. It includes language (Mokum is Yiddish for place but has come to mean Amsterdam) and the history of landmarks such as Tuschinski and de Bijenkorf.

It also highlights the significance of Jewish Amsterdammers such as Samuel Sarphati, Spinoza and Anne Frank as well as the city’s collusion in the persecution of the Jewish population during WW2. Until April 6. Website

See the light in Amsterdam
You can cruise, walk or cycle past the installations by numerous artists which are lighting up the city in the dark days of December and January. Boat arrangements include drinks and warm blankets, and there is an app to self-guide a walk.

Cycling tours are guided but mind you don’t end up in a canal. You can of course devise your own route. The Amsterdam Light Festival is on until January 18. Website 

Don’t be late for Brancusi
There is still plenty of time left to see the impressive Brancusi, the birth of modern sculpture at the H’ART museum in Amsterdam but with the holiday season coming things might get a bit cramped as some of the rooms at the museum are quite small. The Romanian artist literally whittled down any recognisable features of man and beast until the suggestion of them quite magically remained. Until January 18. Website

Penetrate the mystery of I.S.
Who was the 17th-century painter who signed their work I.S? Was I.S. a man or a woman and could he or she, like Rembrandt, have been from Leiden? The 16 portraits on show at the Lakenhal in Leiden gathered from European museums and private collections, suggest he may have been a native of the city, based on his warts-and-all approach to the sitters.

But clues provided by their clothing also place him in Eastern Europe which would make him an itinerant painter or a native of the region. It is a Masterful Mystery and it’s on until September 4. Website

Taste a royal tart
A heady mix of food and royalty awaits at the palace of Soestdijk as we are given a peek into the royal kitchens and find out what their majesties queen Juliana and prince Bernhard ate and what they were serving their guests.

Their former chef lifts the lid on a bubbling casserole of secrets, from the royals’ favourite foods to what happened to the leftovers. Princess Beatrix’s gold tableware is also on show and you can even partake of a “flavours of Soestdijk pastry tasting menu” courtesy of chef Robèrt van Beckhoven. Flavours of Soestdijk is on until March 29. Website 

Get your skates on
Skating rinks all over the country are open in December but some have that extra something special. You can go skating in the Efteling, for instance, or take your chances on the floating ice rink smack in the historic centre of Leiden. You can even skate in Safari Park Beekse Bergen during the park’s spectacular Light Safari as long as you don’t frighten the tigers.

Get down to earth with Aat Veldhoen
In the month of rampant consumerism and the dying of the year, what better way to contemplate the futility of it all than to visit the Oosterbegraafplaats’s museum of death, Tot Zover (until now) in Amsterdam, which ever sees the bright side of death.

It’s not all gloom and doom either this time, as artist Aat Veldhoen (1934-2018), whose work is on show, was very much alive to the joys of beauty, sex, birth and love. Death is linked to all four, Veldhoen shows. Aat Veldhoen- Realist tot in de kist is on until June 28. Website