It’s an African Christmas for us this year, we are off to Botswana tomorrow for three weeks with Granny and Gramps. We are so excited to have a break and to spend the holidays with family. Despite Kooks writing to Santa to tell him she’s been naughty, both my girls get Christmas this year and are expecting Santa Claus to visit and leave them a special surprise. This has caused a little bit of a dilemma because I purchased all of the girls Santa gifts here in Malawi and I don’t want to lug them all to Botswana and then back again – especially since I’ve got a plan to utilize that space to carry back homeschool supplies, lots and lots of books, a handheld mixer and, well, tons of other stuff that I either can’t find or can’t afford here. I also know that the girls will be spoiled by Granny and Gramps and their Auntie who will also be in Botswana for Christmas so luggage space will be at a premium, but I want Christmas to be magic and this is the first year that we have been counting down and that they are both anticipating Christmas morning with so much excitement. I’ve come up with a plan that I really hope works out well.
The Steve Spangler Blog has sent some of their Insta-Snow to my parents’ home in the States and they have forwarded it on to Botswana. I’m really hoping it arrives in time. If it does, the Insta-Snow will be under the tree with a note from Santa himself telling the girls that he’s left a special surprise for each of them at home in Malawi. Boo’s Christmas list this year was:
- A guitar
- A flute with buttons that I can press to make music
- A boom boom drum with sticks
- A sterculia tree
She then asked me if I thought Santa would share a little bit of his snow with her. When it was time to write our letters to Santa and she had to choose just one item to ask for she went with the guitar.
Kook’s Christmas list was:
- A white cake, after a few moments thought she said, “no, no, I want a brown cake.”
In her letter to Santa she asked for a galimoto (a car toy made out of wire). I might have steered her in that direction since I do have some inside information from Santa and I know her Granny will make sure that she gets a brown cake sometime during our visit.
Santa is actually going to bring both of the girls a guitar, a drum and a galimoto. We were able to get them all at the craft market in town and I’m so happy with how they turned out.
The guitars are my favorite. We commissioned them from a local artisan and they have wire strings that you can actually tune. Tell me these don’t just scream rock n’ roll.
The drums are a pretty standard item at the craft markets here and I’ve been meaning to pick some up for the girls anyway. I think they will love their boom boom drums even though they don’t come with sticks. We might have to go searching for some of our own.
And the galimotos are just too much fun. We also commissioned these and the artist made them to look like the Land Cruiser that Dada drives. They can be steered while running at full speed and the doors all open and close.
I love them and am planning to order the picture book “Galimoto” by Karen Lynn Williams about a Malawian boy who makes his own galimoto to go with them soon.
I think Santa has done really well by my girls this year and I am so looking forward to their reactions to these special treats.
We always struggle with internet access in Botswana so this space will lie dormant while we are away. If you are new here your comments won’t show up until I am able to get on to approve them but I’ll look forward to reading them as soon as I can. If you have commented before your comment should show up right away.
Whatever holidays you celebrate and wherever you are spending them, I wish you a happy time surrounded by family and friends and I look forward to catching up with you in the New Year.
Disclaimer: The book above is linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. If you purchase through this link I will receive a small commission.
Sounds like Santa will treat your kids well this year! It’s always hard trying to figure out if it will be possible for Santa to bring his gifts to your destination or not. I think he will this year as we head to Los Angeles, but the previous year he surprised us with gifts awaiting us when we came home from traveling. I hope you have a wonderful holiday!!
This is wonderful!!! What a great Christmas they will have- I’m so glad you’ll be able to spend it with family:). I’m also a bit jealous about the galimoto!!!
They look incredible!!!!
What neat gifts! I love that galimoto! Now I want one! I’m adding that to the list of things I need to pick up whenever I get my family down there to visit you.
LOL
Merry Christmas Jody!
What a great Christmas for the girls! Can’t believe Kooks is talking (feel like we miss so much)! Have a safe trip and wonderful time! Please say Hello to Glor and Bri for me. Miss and Love You All!
Super gifts! Enjoy your Christmas.
What cool presents! I love the galimoto – I’ve never heard of them before! And soooo glad you get to be with family for Christmas. Have a wonderful trip, can’t wait to hear all about it!
I LOVE those gifts. I have seen those cars before, actually, on Sesame Street! How cool. I love that you commissioned local artists to make your gifts. I may have to borrow that idea. We are keeping it simple and low key this year as we will be away camping and space will definitely be at a premium. I think we will do some opening and closing before and after the actual day since we will be gone. As you saw, we have been focusing on Christmas presence this year, so that is helping too.
So cool that Sesame Street featured galimotos! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas – I love that you are focusing on presence this year.
I’d never seen a galimoto before, but I love it! The guitars look totally rocking, too. Enjoy the surprisingly pleasant sound of kids figuring out how to play their instruments
By the way – would love to see that “Santa, I’ve not been good” letter
LOVE those guitars–and one-of-a-kind is so awesome! And the galimoto brought back a good memory: a woman I worked with spent a year teaching in Africa. When she returned she shared some special artifacts with us, including a galimoto. It looked like such fun!
Hope you’re enjoying your time with family…and hope there’s plenty of room in the luggage for treasures!
Those gifts are so cultural. I’d love for Miss Possum to ask for a non commercial thing for a change. So over princesses and pink!
I forgot to wish you a happy Christmas!
What a unique and special Christmas for your family. Those guitars are fabulous!
Love love love the toys. We can get all of those here in Kenya EXCEPT the guitars which are absolutely stunning! We got a guitar from the one Target-ish store here and it fell apart in like 2 days. I would die for one of those guitars! Hope you are enjoying your Christmas in Botswana!! : )
Ha Ha – I was so excited about the guitars and the girls do love them but they broke them within a half hour. They tuned them the wrong way so the wire string completely fell out and they are pain to restring. We are spending a lot of time trying to make a plan to keep the strings on!
Hope the packaged arrived on time! Sounds you were in for an amazing Christmas!
It did and we has so much fun with the snow!
Such wonderful toys! Papa brought back a tamtam drum from his last trip to Ghana and my kids adore it, though I’m not sure our neighbours are such big fans! It is one of the toys they play with the most, along with their wooden xylophone, also from Ghana, with hanging dry fruit husks underneath that amplify the sound. I will have to see if we can get them a Ghanaian guitar sometime!
Those instruments sound lovely. You can find some wooden xylophones here but I’ve never seen one with fruit husks underneath. I’ll bet it sounds beautiful.
What wonderful gifts – I love the galimotos!
I somehow missed this post when it was published. I look forward to hearing more about your time in Botswana soon!