Safari Girl was asking us lots of questions about Santa Claus like, "Is he REAL?" this year. I never came right out and said one way or the other--rather I distracted her with my own questions like, "Why are you wondering?" It turned out she had a paper Christmas tree she was working on and really wanted bring it home but knew that if she tried to bring it on the plane it would get smashed. She really just wanted to know if Santa was real to figure out if he could solve this dilemma for her and deliver her paper tree to our house!
Anyway, as this could be the last year that she believes in Santa we decided to make it special. One night after our typical Tuesday evening grocery shopping, Papai dropped me off downtown close to our home and then headed home with the kids. Unloading groceries when you live on the 10th floor is quite a production plus they had new toys from McDonald's to be excited so I don't think they even noticed I was gone. I was able to get some shopping done--picking up this stuffed leopard that Safari Girl was absolutely in love with and a few other cheap little things at another store and then I walked home with the goods. I don't even remember how they didn't see them when I came in but they didn't!
I wrapped everything while they were sleeping, plus some things I bought from home and then when we left for our Christmas camping we were really tricky. We had the car all packed and ready to go and just as everyone was headed down the elevator to leave I proclaimed, "I have to use the bathroom. Go ahead and I'll be down there in a minute!" As soon as they were gone, I whipped out all the presents and set them out under the tree.
When we arrived home and Safari Girl saw presents under the tree it was MAGICAL!
"Now I know Santa is real!" she proclaimed, "I was with you every time you went shopping and I never saw you buy those gifts! AND, we were gone and you were with us the whole time so you couldn't have put those presents under the tree!" She was so excited!
We have a believer for one more year at least!
Watching the kids open presents was so fun for us. Safari Girl LOVED her leopard and a few other small things and The Boss was SO excited for this silly little pool table that cost R$2 (less than US$1). His "big" present was a Hotwheels wiggle car set which he also was so excited about. The kids were kind and shared some of their Brazilian candy out of their stockings since Mom and Dad didn't get any presents or stockings.
Safari Girl the next day with her leopard.
We did get to have Stollen though--from the little bakery on our street. I sent Papai to buy it and I guess it was late in the season so all they had left was this kind with marzipan down the middle. It definitely wasn't as good as homemade Stollen but I was grateful to continue our tradition in a foreign country even and I didn't have to make it!
It was a very Merry Christmas, even if it was a bit different from our typical Christmas!
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