Thursday, December 22, 2011

25 Days of Christmas: Sinterklaas Kaopentje with Allie Burke

25 Days of Christmas continues with Allie Burke, author of the Enchanters series! I just have to add that Allie is one of my new favorite people and new favorite authors. Take it away, Allie!

Allie:

I believed in Santa Claus long after I probably should have. Actually, when I met my husband somewhere around ten years ago, I tried to convince him that Santa Claus really did exist. I was, oh, I don’t know. Fifteen.

This fact, together with my love for the Christmas season, contributed to my fascination with a new Santa Claus I learned of when I spent my first Christmas with him and his family, somewhere around three years later.

My father in law is someone who I love very dearly. But he’s strange. Strange, like me, and as such, when I first heard him mumbling the words to a Christmas song I’d never heard before, I was intrigued. Intrigued, because I’d never heard it before, and intrigued, because I hate Christmas music. But you couldn’t hate this song. It sounded so innocent and so soothing sung from this Dutch-Indonesian man’s mouth, and I just had to know more about it.

I whispered to my husband as his father disappeared down the hallway, and with a disgusted look like he couldn’t believe my ignorance, he said, “Sinterklaas Kaopentje”. Like, of course I should know all about it, or something.

Needless to say, the song is quite well known in The Netherlands and in Belgium, and goes something like this:
Sinterklaas Kapoentje,
Leg wat in mijn schoentje,
Leg wat in mijn laarsje,
Dank je Sinterklaasje!

And for those of you who need a translation, like me:

Saint Nicolas Little Rascal,
Put something in my little shoe,
Put something in my little boot,
Thank you little Saint Nicolas!

I just find it terribly awesome that at eighteen, I, the Christmas fanatic, had something to learn about Santa Claus. I think we should remember that Christmas may not look or sound the same in every house, but it’s still just that. Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you, from our home to yours.

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