Li'l Saint... Gamma-Gampa?

How to explain? The evening of the 5th was meant - in best Alsatian tradition - to be when we celebrated St. Nicholas' Day at 24A. But it was not to be. Tomi wasn't quite over his feverish sickiness of the preceding days, and after a stint at the park with Leo and their buddy, Raphael, he literally began falling asleep with his head in his plate by the time dinner rolled around. So we decided to do it the next morning. Only, the next morning found Tomi sleeping in (which meant his mom & brother could, too, because Wednesday = no French school), and so... on the evening of the 6th...


& of course, that last picture is of the detrius of Saint... oh, but I almost forgot: this day has been renamed, and shall henceforth be referred to (in this household, at any rate) as Saint Gamma-Gampa Day. 'Cause... well...

Each of the boys got a book and an ornament from Gamma & Gampa, to be opened on this day of days. Both gifts come from the St. Nicholas Day tradtions established at 1622, and have been adhered to very scrupulously ever since ye good aul' days. I was trying to decide whether to say they were from Gamma & Gampa right away, or to wait a bit, and try to let the mythical St. Nick do his work. In the end, though - and since the first joy of a gift is indelibly imprinted on these boys' brains with the first hearing of the giver's name - I told them that G&G had sent the gifts along with St. Nicolas. And thereafter, the whole kit and kaboodle was a big GammaGampa parade of gifts and giving, as far as the boys were concerned. So... the lion and tiger are Gamma-Gampa Li-ee-un! & Gamma-Gampa Tie-gerr! The tangerines are Gamma-Gampa tie-n-jerr-ens! and so on.

Both books were a hit, but the real star of the two was How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends? Barb & Larry had picked it up at a book sale at Betsy's school, when they visited her and her Herr boys in Chicago, with Ellen . And they couldn't have picked a better one. From the very first question ("What if a dinosaur's friends come to play. Does he mope, does he pout if he can't get his way?"), Leo would laugh and roll his eyes and head back and say with a giggle, "No-o-o-o-o!" Tomi was still a bit sick, so it took him until the second or third question to get into the groove. But it was SO funny - and it's the first time they've really responded to questions posed in a book in this way.

We got the tree the next day, but pictures of that will have to await our next post...