Santa Claus comes to town and Other Events

Santa Claus comes to Holland on Dec 5. Unlike the English equivalent, he does not come from the north pole with reindeer and elves, but from Spain, in a steam-boat. This year we would not be doing Santa Claus with the family, but with Jan and Desiree, parents of Emma's best friend Eva. Usually Santa Claus involves making 'surprises' which are presents that typify the person receiving. This is an aspect of Santa Claus that I find so charming in the Dutch. One may construct something to praise, villify or humble the recipient. This year sadly we would not be surprising each other. We would be with ourselves and Emma, Eva and her parents plus her brother and granny and a single lady whose relationship to the family was unclear. We were each charged with buying an inexpensive present for each of the 8 people without knowing who it was for. A complex game ensued in which a throw of the dice determined that we would either pick up a prezzy from under the tree, pass all our prezzies one or more places to the left or right, or move ourselves a number of places, or open a prezzy. Granny was excused from the moving bit because she has iron things on her legs and it would have taken forever to get the game over. As it was we spent the next three hours (after Jan's excellent cottage pie) moving ourselves or our pile of prezzies around the table. It was then discovered that there was no end to the game, nor any way to claim outright ownership of a prezzy. The single lady gave way first, collapsed with exhaustion and went home, thereby forefeiting all her accumulated wealth. New rules were argued out whereby a six thrown enabled the player to at last lay claim to one of the prezzies before him. As the evening began to turn to morning, rules were changed again so that anything other than a 3, and shortly afterwards including the 3, would gain a present permanently. The game stampeded towards it's conclusion in the early hours, to the relief of the players who departed with thier prizes and to thier beds. Great fun.

One of my cherished gains, this amazing snowman with a clever remote control, whereby from a distance of   45 centimeters, one can cause the realistic figure to illuminate itself in an alarming manner. It has two possibilities. One is 'off'and the other, not surpisingly, is 'on'. One could for instance, conceal oneself behind a doorway and cause an unsuspecting passerby to squeal with amusement. Or perhaps he would kick it or stamp on it.

I also accquired this novelty underwear. I have not used it for fear of embarrasment at the urinals when trying to extricate myself  for a pee, the trunk being a closed tube. I also fear that it may look not as good under my sagging stomach as on the Tarzan figuer on the box.

And finally, the self propelled clockwork bulldozer with many centimteres of track to test the imagination.