Sinterklaas 2011
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| Sam, Geoff, Claire |
We had our annual
visit from Sinterklaas and his helpers on the first weekend of December. As in previous years, young Sam (now 5) and
his parents, Vikki and Peter joined us. Sam is a True Believer. He tried hard
to sing the songs because he understands that this is how Sinterklaas knows
which house to visit as he rides past on his white horse, Schimmel. Sam
couldn't wait for the moment when Sinterklaas would come and throw sweets and
candy everywhere - right up until the moment Sinterklaas knocked on the front
door, at which point young Sam leaped from his mother's side and dove under the
legs of the people sitting on the couch!
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| Pieter opens his gift |
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| Mark and Judith |
For the same event
we also had a visit from an old family friend, Pieter Grootes. Piet, Mark
and Sean were in cubs and scouts together, so that goes back a few years. We
really enjoyed having Pieter visit us and bring us up to date with all the
goings-on
oorsee in Madibaland, or
should that now be Zumaland? For his
part, Piet seemed to enjoy getting the warm, leather gloves that Sinterklaas
brought him after he helped us sing the Sinterklaas liedjes so nicely.
Claire encounters Santa Claus
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| Claire and Santa Claus |
The day before that,
Miriam took Claire to get her picture taken with a certain Santa Claus - all
very confusing. No wonder Claire regarded this guy with a great deal of
suspicion. This picture shows the very closest she was prepared to get to him.
December Birthdays - Jonty Turns One
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| Jonty getting ready for Sinsterklaas |
The following
weekend we all trooped out to Peterborough to celebrate three birthdays:
Heather (Stephen's fiancée), Mark Dankowych (Judith's boyfriend), and Jonty -
his First Birthday! Yep, it's been a
whole year since Jonathan Tiago arrived three week early - and all that went
with that. If and when his dad shares
some pictures with us I will put them up on the blog. Meanwhile, have a look at
the December page of their Christmas letter - shared on my last blog entry.
30 Bottles of Wine
Ingrid and I decided
to give each other a Christmas gift of 30 bottles of Cheeky Monkey Pinot Noir
assisted by a local wine making shop. We bottled, corked and labelled them two
weeks ago. One night last week Mark was here for supper and he prevailed on us
to open one and then had the audacity to tell us it was "obviously"
still quite young !
Aunty Bessie and Telkom
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| Penny, Dick and Joan with Aunty Bessie |
Last Saturday we
phoned Aunty Bessie in South Africa and found her quite upset - which is most
unusual for someone who is normally sparkling and full of laughter - even at
the age of 95. She had been having phone problems for nearly two weeks and from
the noise and other dialling tones on the line as we spoke she was clearly
still having phone problems. Judith had tried phoning a few days before and
Aunty Bessie could hardly hear a thing and told Judith to try again another
day. Her neighbour phoned the telephone service (presumably Telkom) and was
told it would cost R200.00 to send a technician and another R200.00 for a phone
replacement! What? Hello? He was told to forget it and Aunty Bessie burst into
tears. She is blind to all practical purposes and the telephone is her only
communication with the outside world if her neighbours aren't around - which
will be the case over Christmas. Thankfully, a friend of a friend has invited
Aunty Bessie to have Christmas dinner with them so she will get to go out on
Christmas Day.
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| Aunty Bessie |
Here is one of the
best recent photos of Aunty Bessie that I have seen, and another of Aunty
Bessie with her wonderful neighbours who show her such love and caring
friendship: Penny, Dick and Joan. Photos courtesy of Ken, Penny's son.
On Holiday
My good news is that
I am officially on vacation as from this afternoon. Judith is already home from
Chiropractic College. Ingrid starts her holidays on Thursday. I'm already in
the holiday mood.
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| O come, Emmanuel |
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| Happy Chanukah |
