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.

秋天的妝,萬聖節的裝 Fall Makeup, Halloween Disguise

In anticipation of Halloween, we are singing silly songs and thinking about the costumes we are going to wear. The stores have everything about Halloween on display. We've visited several pumpkin patches. We can hear the rustling of leaves on the ground when we go for a walk in the woods. I think Halloween is my children's favourite festival (ok, maybe after Christmas). As a kid, I was always excited about going out in the dark. Although in Taiwan, the ghosts are said to be a lot more vicious. Here in Canada, this so-called ghost festival is just a day to ask for treats and dress up in funny or fancy clothes. How fun!

I was surprised I have a lot of stock photos from the past that I can use for this short poem. I want to share this poem BEFORE the Halloween arrives so kids and parents can learn and use a few Chinese phrases just in time for the holiday. I have to admit I don't really like the pumpkin pie but I do like to carve pumpkins. One of the pumpkins in the photos (the happy ghost) was the orginal design of Emilyn when she was 4. Hmmm... what are we going to carve this year?

Here is the full poem. As always, feedback welcomed. Enjoy!

秋天的妝
qiū tiān de zhuāng
Fall Makeup

萬聖節的裝
wàn shèng jié de zhuāng
Halloween Disguise

誰把綠色的樹葉化了妝?
shéi  bǎ lù sè de shù yè huà le zhuāng
who puts the makeup on the green leave?

誰把森林換上紅、黃、橘色的新衣
shéi bǎ sēn lín huàn shàng hóng huáng jú sè de xīn yī
who puts the new clothes of red, yellow and orange on the forest?

誰把地上鋪滿樹葉的地毯
shéi bǎ dì shàng pū mǎn shù yè de dì tǎn
who covers the ground with a carpet of leaves?

好美啊！
hǎo měi ā
so beautiful

原來是秋天涼爽的空氣
yuán lái shì qiū tiān liáng shuǎng de kōng qì
 it is the cool air of the Fall

變的把戲
biàn de bǎ xì
that plays the trick

好玩耶！
hǎo wán yē
so much fun

可以堆滿落葉
kě yǐ duī mǎn luò yè
let’s pile up the leaves

跳進去
tiào jìn qù
then jump in

好吃呦！
hǎo chī yōu
so yummy

烤個南瓜派
kǎo ge nán guā pài
let’s bake a pumpkin pie

喝熱可可
he rè kě kě
drink hot chocolate

啊！不要忘記
ā! bú yào wàng jì
aya! don’t forget to

把南瓜刻成笑笑臉
bǎ nán guā kē chéng xiào xiào liǎn
carve a smiley face onto the pumpkin

也不要忘記
yě bú yào wàng jì
also don’t forget to

把自己化妝
bǎ zì jǐ huà zhuāng
put the makeup on ourselves

貓咪？巫婆？還是小鬼？
māo mī? wū pó? hái shì xiǎo guǐ?
a kitten? a witch? or a little ghost?

過萬聖節了！
guò wàn shèng jié le!
it’s time for Halloween!

夏天去海邊 Summer, let's go to the beach!

Summer is my favourite season. With my new camera in hand, plus bucket and shovel, we head out to the beach a few times already. A lot of the photos were taken at Witty's Lagoon. The water there is warm and shallow. When the tide is out, we can easily see fish, crabs and all kids of sea creatures.

It is really rewarding to hear my girls citing phrases from this poem and the previous one - Spring Rain. These short rhythms are catchy and easy to remember. My pinyin is improving too, although I did purchase a Chinese font program and used it to add pinyin to words. Here is the full version with English translation:

夏天去海邊 xià tiān qù hǎi biān

沙子、沙子 shā  zi, shā  zi
Sand, sand

海邊有好多沙子 hǎi  biān  yǒu  hǎo  duō  shā  zi
Lots of sand at the beach

也有好多貝殻 yě yǒu hǎo duō bèi ké
lots of shells too

白色、黃色、橘色、紫色的貝殻 bái sè, huáng sè, jú sè, zǐ sè de bèi ké
white, yellow, orange, purple shells

拿水桶 ná shuǐ tǒng
take a bucket

做一個沙城堡 zuò yī ge shā chéng bǎo
make a sand castle

用貝殼點綴 yòng bèi ké diǎn zhuì
decorate with shells

彩色的沙城堡 cǎi sè de shā chéng bǎo
a colourful sand castle

海水被夏天的太陽 hǎi shuǐ bèi xià tiān de tài yáng
the ocean water, because of the summer sun,

照得暖暖的 zhào dé nuǎn nuǎn de
is warm up

我和魚兒、螃蟹一起游泳 wǒ hèn yú ér, páng xiè yi qǐ yóu yǒng
I swim with fish and crabs

不過他們很害羞bú guò tā mén hě hài xiū
But they are very shy

我一靠近 wǒ yī kào jìn
I get closer

他們就快快逃跑了 tā mén jiù kuài kuai táo pǎo le
They quickly run away