Cultural Christmas Confusion

The Dutch Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas), celebrated in grand style by the Dutch community here in San Francisco on December 1, has forever won a place in Mats' heart. He's been fascinated by the concept and the actuality of "doten" (presents) ever since his 2nd birthday - and here is a man who, together with 6-8 black men*, bring presents for no apparent reason. All it requires is a few songs and putting a carrot in your shoe for the good ole Saint's horse.

As of December 6th, in order to avoid an entire month of gift giving, we told Mats that Sint had gone back to Spain and we shifted our focus to Christmas and the American Santa Claus. Mats loves the lights and the pine boughs that we used to decorate the outside of the house, but he's not buying this Santa Sh--. The first time I showed him a picture of Santa, Mats responded with an indignant "That's not Santa, that's Sinterklaas" (or Pindakaas, as he seems to pronounce it). I've tried to point out the more obvious physical differences:

Alas, the subtleties seem to be lost on a 2-year old. He's incorporated aspects of both into one fantasy figure named Sinterklaas who lives in Spain and rides a horse, but says "ho ho ho" and climbs down the chimney to give presents. He reenacted his interpretation of the celebration on the plane to Holland, by picking up a "present" (represented by the squares on the carpet of the airplane), climbing up on the seat, yelling Ho Ho Ho, jumping down the chimney, and then unwrapping the "present".

The parents out there who do not believe in propogating the Santa myth are probably smirking with self-satisfaction right now. We have not one, but two Christmas-season lies we have to live up to later. As my sister-in-law Melissa says, forget saving for college, we better start saving for therapy.


* For David Sedaris' hilarious interpretation of the Dutch Sinterklaas, see here
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=sbJpRLhaSqs