Anyway, I started talking to the girls about who Sinterklaas was (though did not include information about Zwarte Piet which apparently wasn't such a bad idea since he is apparently a figure of consternation for everyone else except the Dutch people). This proved to be a challenge mostly because Alexandra is in her question everything stage. I was forced to hit such hard-hitting questions such as:
Alexandra: "Where does Sinterklaas live?"
Me: "He lives with Santa Claus in the North Pole."
Followed by my personal favorite:
Alexandra: "Is he Santa Claus's husband?"
Me: "No, he's his cousin."
Alexandra: "Does he have a car?"
Me: "No, he has a horse, which is way cooler."
Alexandra: "Yeah."
Alexandra: "Is he coming to our house?"
Me: "He's going to visit us tomorrow night and leave little gifts in your wooden shoes."
Josephine then interjected with: "I don't like him, Sinterklaas, no." (We're working on sentence structure)
Alexandra: "What color is his hair?" "White." "What color are his gloves?" "Purple." "What color is his cape?" "Red." "What color is his horse?" "White." (This is while we color a picture of Sinterklaas on his horse, Amerigo. Also, to note, the only reason I even knew the answer to any of these questions is I had to Google it...hence the reason I know the horse's name)
The conversation dwindled from there as we finished working on our Sinterklaas coloring pages.
This morning the girls woke up though didn't immediately think of Sinterklaas. We finally pointed out that he had visited us after they had breakfast and they opened the little gifts that were left in their wooden clogs. In the end, I think Alexandra is less enamored with Sinterklaas though is thoroughly excited about Santa Claus's visit as she's just beginning to realize exactly what Christmas entails (read: PRESENTS!), and Josephine is harboring major anxiety over the thought of a strange man lurking through the house despite the fact he's leaving PRESENTS!
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| Sinterklaas visits the Tepaske's |
