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Windmills and wooden shoes cover

Windmills and wooden shoes

Chapter 42: CHRISTMAS MORNING
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About This Book

The narrative follows Dutch siblings Jan and Katrina and their friends as they carry out everyday life in a small Dutch community: chores like milking cows, churning butter, selling milk; play and games; visits to windmills and barges; cultural details such as wooden shoes, storks' nests, blue-and-white dishes, dikes and canals; seasonal events including sleigh rides, St. Nicholas and Christmas; songs and simple illustrated scenes intended for classroom use. Episodes are short and episodic, combining practical descriptions of customs and landscape with domestic scenes to familiarize young readers with Holland's rhythms and material culture.


CHRISTMAS MORNING

Jan and Katrina got up early on Christmas morning. They ran to the fireplace. There were the wooden shoes! They were filled with good things. There were toys on the floor beside the shoes.

“O Mother! Father! Come quick! See what the good St. Nicholas has brought us!” cried Jan and Katrina.

“What beautiful gifts!” says mother. “St. Nicholas must think you are good children.”

St. Nicholas brought Jan a little wooden horse on wheels.

He brought him a woolly lamb that says “Baa” when you press a spring in its back.

Jan had three books, too, and a pen and a red pen-holder. What fine gifts!

Katrina had a little cradle for her doll. She had a doll-cart. She had a gold chain, a lace collar, and a pretty blue gown.

Jan and Katrina also had many sweetmeats, nuts, and little cakes.