誰是聖誕老公公?

Who is Santa?

I guess it is official. The tree is up; decorations all over it. The singing moose repeats Christmas songs over and over again and my 3 year old dances to the music like she is the happiest kid in the world. Over the weekend, we produced this story. I wrote this short piece a long time ago, almost a year ago, I think, when Chantal first got an idea of who Santa is. I showed Emilyn my script two weeks ago and we discussed the "plan" to make a Santa for the video. She was very excited about the project and we invited Song Fei, Emilyn's friend, to join the art production. The story is a conversation between me (mother) and Chantal (little sister = mei mei).We recorded the conversation in one take. This was not the case for previous stories when we had to practice and record line by line. Emilyn has made good progress on her Chinese reading.

Chinese with pinyin

Chinese with English subtitles

So here it is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. And thank you for reading and supporting my story blog. There will be more fun stories in the New Year and I welcome your ideas and suggestions.

妹妹: 媽媽, 誰是聖誕老公公?Mèi mèi: Mā Mā, shéi shì shèng dàn lǎo gōng gōng?Sister: Who is Santa Claus?

媽媽: 聖誕老公公是一個很有愛心的老公公Mā Mā: Shèng dàn lǎo gōng gōng shì yī ge hěn yǒu ài xīn de lǎo gōng gōngMother: Santa Claus is a caring old man

妹妹: 他有多老了?Mèi mèi: Tā yǒu duō lǎo le?Sister: How old is he?

媽媽: 很老很老, 但是他很健康,胖胖壯壯的Mā Mā: Hěn lǎo hěn lǎo, dàn shì tā hěn jiàn kāng, pàng pàng zhuàng zhuàng deMother: Very old, very old. But he is very healthy, chubby and sturdy.

妹妹: 他為什麼胖胖壯壯的呢?Mèi mèi: Tā wèi shé mo pàng pàng zhuàng zhuàng de nē?Sister: Why is he chubby and sturdy?

媽媽: 因為他總是笑嘻嘻Mā Mā: Yīn wèi tā zǒng shì xiào xī xīMother: because he always smiles.

妹妹: 他對誰笑嘻嘻呢?Mèi mèi: Tā duì shéi xiào xī xī nē?Sister: Who does he smile at?

媽媽: 對每一個人都笑嘻嘻,尤其對好孩子笑嘻嘻Mā Mā: Duī měi yī ge rén dōu xiào xī xī, Yóu qí duì hǎo hái zi xiào xī xīMother: He smiles at everyone, especially the good kids.

妹妹: 誰是好孩子?Mèi mèi: Shéi shì hǎo hái zi?Sister: Who is a good kid?

媽媽: 每一個孩子都可以當好孩子,對別人有愛心,就是好孩子Mā Mā: Měi yī ge hái zi dōu kě yǐ dāng hǎo hái zi, duì bié rén yǒu ài xīn, jiù shì hǎo hái ziMother: Every kid can be a good kid. As long as you are caring toward others, you are a good kid.

妹妹: 要怎麼樣對別人有愛心呢?Mèi mèi: Yào zěn mo yàng duì bié rén yǒu ài xīn nē?Sister: How can you be caring toward others?

媽媽: 要幫助別人,要分享你的好東西,就是有愛心Mā Mā: Yào bāng zuì béi rén, yào fēn xiǎng nǐ de hǎo dōng xī, jiù shì yǒu ài xīnMother: You help others and share what you have. That’s caring.

妹妹: 聖誕老公公小時後是不是一個有愛心的小朋友?Mèi mèi: Shèn dàn lǎo gōng gōng xiǎo shí hòu shì bú shì yī ge yǒu ài xīn de xiǎo péng yǒu?Sister: Was Santa Claus a caring kid when he was little?

媽媽: 是吧! 他才會老了,還是個有愛心的老公公Mā Mā: Shì ba! Tā cái huì lǎo le, hái shì ge yǒu ài xīn de lǎo gōng gōngMother: Yes! When he got old, he is still a caring old man

妹妹: 他會送禮物給我嘛?Mèi mèi: Tā huì sòng lǐ wù gěi wǒ mā?Sister: Will he give me a present?

媽媽: 你是好孩子嘛?Mā Mā: Nǐ shì hǎo hái zi mā?Mother: Are you a good kid?

妹妹: 是呀! 我現在是好孩子, 有愛心,等我長大以後老了,我也可以當聖誕老公公Mèi mèi: Shì yā! Wǒ xiàn zài shì hǎo hái zi, yǒu ài xīn, děn wǒ zhǎng dà yǐ hòu lǎo le, wǒ yě kě yǐ dāng shèng dàn lǎo gōng gōngSister: Yes! I am a good kid now. I am caring. When I grow old, I can be Santa Claus too.