Emily (left) and Madeleine checking out the all of the goodies from Nikolaus.In German speaking countries there is a wonderful character, Nikolaus. He comes the night of December 5th and leaves candy and small toys for well behaved children who have left out their freshly cleaned shoes. Each year we have had Nikolaus-Tag (Nikolaus's Day - the feast day for Saint Nicholas - or as I call it "Shoe Day") for the girls, but this was the first year they were truly aware of it. The evening of the 5th the girls thoroughly cleaned their shoes with diaper wipes and under the supervision of their father. The shoes were left by the front door and two rather excited litttle girls went to bed. They did ask how Nikolaus got to the house and Till told them he drove a car, yeah, a person from German folklore is going to show up in a Toyota...we decided he walked. The morning of the 6th Emily and Madeleine dressed with great speed, flew downstairs and were thrilled to see the contents on the doormat. Nikolaus gave each girl some chocolate and two new cans of Play-Doh which is currently a very popular toy. The girls were so thrilled that I think it is safe to say their parents are more excited about the proceedings of Christmas morning than the girls are.
Today we went to get our Santa pictures. We had gone earlier in the week, but Santa was feeding his reindeer. When we left the house I told Till we had low standards for this one. I expected both girls to be in tears, screaming and clutching security blankets. Last year when we went for pictures it was the middle of a weekday afternoon and no one else was there. I put the girls on Santa's lap, they came unglued and I told the photographer to go for it, because they were at "that age". Santa sat on the floor for an hour (yes, you read that correctly) playing with the girls. We never got a picture in his sleigh, but we did get several without tears and Santa earned his designation as a saint.
Yesterday, we ran into Santa at Rite Aid and the girls were not excited. Emily cried and Madeleine shook. In the car on the way home there was great discussion as to the fact the girls did not like Santa and that he had too much hair on his face. Apparently, Santa took it to heart because today when we saw him, at a completely different location, he had a short beard (and better training, more experience, warmer persona, etc., almost as if he was a different person)! We got in line and watched the children in front of us. Shockingly, Santa did not decapitate them, many of the kids were excited to see him and voluntarily got in the sleigh, some kids even hugged him and when the kids were finished they were all given a sucker and bubbles by Mrs. Claus. As bubble lovers who are not ones to turn down candy, we decided to give it a shot.
I again told the photgrapher to just click the camera, whatever the result. Madeleine's hands literally started to shake when we got to Santa (as I put her on the bench I did not feel like the world's best mother), but Santa let her touch just his finger to start. Emily contemplated crying, but had a change of heart, after all it was Madeleine who had to sit next to him. Not only did the girls not cry (literally shocking to their parents) there were even a couple of smiles and they told Santa that they would both like some Play-Doh for Christmas. And so, to date we do not have a screaming Santa picture (the first year they didn't realize they were on anything other than a couch - as we "backed" them into Santa's arms - until Santa laughed right after the camera clicked...then they realized, looked and cried - but we already had the picture!) and have high hopes for next year.
Santa, Madeleine, Emily
Santa, Madeleine, EmilyIn other news the girls got their first pairs of jeans this week. Frankly, I've been putting it off because jeans make them look so old and grown-up. I wouldn't mind freezing time. However, we were at the department store and the jeans were spotted. We were at the store because we were hoping we would be able to replace Madeleine's well-loved (and borderline indecent) purple pants pictured in "Thanksgiving Revisited". We had no luck. However, we spotted the jeans and they have a purple belt for Madeleine and a pink belt for Emily. They also have lots of "pretty" embroidery, so we are hoping there may be a new favorite.....we'll see if Santa can help out with other purple pants.
Emily in her new jeans.
Madeleine (being slightly less than cooperative hiding by the couch) in her jeans.Emily and Madeleine would like to wish Opa a very happy birthday!
