Thursday, December 6, 2007

Happy St. Nicolas Day! Let the Festivities begin!







Over here in Belgium, St. Nicolas Day is a HUGE deal. Kids get gifts in their shoes for weeks before the actual day (today, by the way) and companies, like my husband's, throw parties to help children celebrate...and, what's a St. Nicolas party without Peter. Who's Peter? He is the completely politically correct black-faced man sitting next to Jolly Ol' St. Nick. I would tell the whole story (and, believe me, I'm dying to tell the real story now that I know I only had the PC version "for Americans") but I don't want the NAACP coming after me. Let's just go with the original story that he's black because of the soot in the chimney. Anywho, St. Nick and Peter could have been made out of pure candy, and Brady was STILL not going anywhere near them. As a matter of fact, he was so traumatized by being asked to go within 2 feet of them, that he collapsed on the floor, face down, and cried immediately following the "confrontation". So, should we try Santa?!


Since we are not, and never will be, true Belgians, we opted not to lead up to St. Nick's day with all the hoopla, and, instead gave Brady the whole pile of presents tonight (we probably wouldn't have celebrated at all, but Brady needed new toys so badly...just kidding...we just saw this as a good opportunity to give him things that we didn't want to lug to the states). And, can I tell you that we had more fun watching Brady open his presents that he probably had opening them! He was hilarious. When Jeremy brought the pile out, he (Brady, not Jeremy) started to laugh and clap, and he yelled "Alright"! It was pure joy! Christmas day is going to be so much fun!


Brady's biggest and "most wanted" gift was a baby Dyson vacuum cleaner (that actually picks up...am I a smart mom or what?!)...he was so excited that he refused to get a bath, and proceeded to push the thing through the whole house. Finally, we wrestled his clothes off in an attempt to change him and get him ready for bed...but he broke free, and we found him vacuuming the living room stark naked. It was priceless...sorry that I can't post those pictures!
Brady and I will be heading home this Sunday. We are really looking forward to hearing from, or seeing everyone then! Sorry that the pictures above are not in order...sometimes I just can't figure out this blog stuff!

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