Once upon a time Papa had a wonderful opportunity to work in the Netherlands and Mama could work from anywhere in the world, so the Leander Family moved to Groningen where they were very happy and while they couldn’t fly home for Xmas, they found a new tradition of flying down to a very warm island and that suited them just fine.
Wait.
Too far.
Lemme start over.
Once upon a time there was a Swedish papa and an American mama who lived in the Netherlands and had a wise brave boy, S, and a pair of twins, L and G.
Every December, the Dutch welcomed SinterKlaas and his helpful Pieten. Sint, as he was known by his friends, would come early in the month, bringing toys to the good girls and boys and any child who was bad would be kidnapped by the Pieten, thrown in their bags and taken to Spain where Sint and the Pieten lived the rest of the year.
But!
Sint knew that the Leander family is Swedish and American and only living in the Netherlands, so he would bring advent calendars, Xmas sweaters or jammies and a single chocolate letter, because he knew that Tomte and Santa would visit their house with many more gifts later that month.
It’s a really great thing that all three Xmas Spirits would speak to one another because otherwise the Leander house would be overrun with tons of presents!
OR NONE AT ALL!
Oh noes!
But, yes, they all talked with one another and because of that, Tomte, the Swedish Xmas gnome, knew that he brought all the main presents on Xmas Eve while Santa, the American Xmas Spirit brought a single Xmas Stocking for each member of the family on Xmas Day.
Now, sadly, Mama and Papa Leander haven’t done a very good job introducing little S and little L and little G to Tomte and Santa, but little S is paying Really Close Attention this year and hopefully after Tomte arrives on Xmas Eve with all those gifts and Santa arrives on Xmas Day with the stockings, Things Will Make Sense.
Otherwise, the Pieten might grab Mama and Papa and throw them in a sack and bring them to Spain.
Which might not be so bad after all.
But life in the Netherlands is pretty kickass, too. For very different reasons. For very wonderful reasons.
For S and L and G reasons.
Fijne Kerstdagen to ALL and to ALL a Good Night!