The day started with a surprise visit from Santa. Santa and his little elves drove up in a dalman decked out in holiday decorations. A dalman is a kind of horse-drawn carriage. And here in Jakarta, Santa even has a driver like everyone else. Here is a picture of Santa's "sleigh" and driver.
I called the kids down from upstairs and we went outside where we met Santa in the driveway. One by one he gave a gift to each of the kids and then everyone huddled together for a picture. It was surprising to see Isaac being the chummiest with Santa and Jack was so scared. Santa then left to deliver more toys and the day went on.
After lunch the dalman returned to give the kids a ride around the complex. The kids and I squeezed in the small carriage with another woman and headed off for a ride. I couldn't believe that such a small horse was able to carry our big load, 4 kids, 2 adults and the driver. But he did and slowly trotted around the complex. The boys loved it. Isaac even busted out singing Jingle Bells as we were riding. The dalman had a bell attached to it that would ring was we rode. I guess that was what reminded him of the song. We all joined in with him and had a great time.
The final event of the day was the big party at the complex clubhouse. They had been putting up decorations for this party for a while. The place was really decked out. They even had a light display in the pool.
The boys and I along with one of our staff, Murni (she is my nanny/cook), headed up to the party around 5pm. We were not there more than 5 minutes when it started pouring down rain.
The rainy season has started here, which means that it rains almost everyday. Sometimes it will rain for 10 minutes and other times it lasts hours. I have really enjoyed a new twist in the weather. Although, I don't know if I will feel the same after months of it. We will see. I digress.
The rain on the Christmas party was not such a good thing. Thankfully, Indonesians are always prepared for rain at this time of year so they had set up tents over most of the event. But one very important thing was left out in the rain, the bouncing castle. The boys saw them setting this up earlier in the day and had been looking forward to bouncing all day. Needless to say, they were sad.
Other than the bouncer, they had lots of food stations, a stage for performers, live music and of course, Santa.
The food was good, lots of variety. Everything from good 'ol turkey to bbq steak to tempura to dim sum and most of it was perpared right at the party. There were also lots of desserts, cotton candy, a chocolate fountain, ice cream, candy and cookies, to name a few.
The boys took their turn being a guest performer on the stage. I was talking to another mom when I turned around and saw all 3 of them up on stage. Isaac was at the microphone. I couldn't quite tell what they were doing because they were being drowned out by the live music. Several minutes later, they all headed off the stage with a gift and reported that they each had sung a song in the mic. Isaac sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat' and Alex and Luke sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
After about an hour and a half, the boys were ready to go. It was still raining at this point and it had gotten very humid outside. Of course when we went to actually get in the car, there was some protesting, mainly by Isaac. And then the rain stopped not long after we got home. Go figure.
I decided that the party would have been way better if Justin had been there and it hadn't rained. I guess we will just have to wait for next year.
1 comment:
sounds like you need to register the boys to audition for the next Indonesian Idol competition!
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