I want an American Santa...ich will einen amerikanischen Santa!

We have some American friends here, Peggy and Steve who come from Montana. They live in a little village across the river from us. They have some German neighbors who once lived in the states with their little girl Isabelle, who I think is now age 7. She speaks a little English and understands even more. Santa Claus is not such an important guy here in Bavaria, or at least not as important as he is in the states. This little girl however, must have spent some Christmases in the states, as it is apparently a family tradition that Santa comes by their house at some point. Last year, the family enlisted a Bavarian neighbor to play Santa. The little girl’s mother this year said that Santa would not be by, apparently because the little girl actually no longer believes in Santa. Isabelle protested that it would not be Christmas without Santa, and she did NOT want a Bavarian Santa this year, but she wanted an American Santa (Bernd’s comment at this point is that there sometimes IS a need to have Americans here). So the mom walked two doors down and asked our friend Steve to put on the costume and be Santa this year. On the one hand, this really works for me conceptually, because Steve is a tall guy, always of good cheer, and I think would make a great Santa. On the other hand, he’s just not the Santa type! Being a good neighbor, he put on the suit, walked down and did the Santa thing for his little neighbor. They gave him some wine to drink, and he commented that usually children leave milk and cookies for Santa in America. They apparently did not have any, but like good Bavarians, offered alcohol, which I hear was kind of hard to drink with the white beard and moustache. Steve talked about the sleigh and reindeer being up on the roof, and how he needed to get to America to give the kids there gifts, but as it was still night time in America, he and his reindeer had plenty of time to get there. As Steve was leaving, little Isabelle indicated that she could not linger to say goodbye, because she had to get back into the house to listen for the reindeer taking off from the roof! And this from a little girl who no longer believes!