Friday night our town invited Samichlaus to come visit all the children. Those who wanted to go meet him in the forest dropped off their treat bags at Volg, the local grocery store. Schmutzli (his helper) came and picked them up and took them to their secret forest workshop where they were filled with peanuts, clementines, chocolates and Grittibaenz breads.
The parents and kids met in the evening at the town square and then we all took a walk up into the forest to the designated meeting spot. We had a bright star lantern to show Samichlaus where we were, and just in case he needed some extra help, we sang lots of Christmas songs accompanied by the guitar. Some years there was a bitter cold wind blowing while we waited for him, other years, it was raining. This time, it was just perfect. Cold enough that you felt like it was winter, but not so cold that every one was crying and complaining about going home before they had even had their chance to meet Samichlaus.
The kids were super excited when they spotted his bright red coat flashing through the trees. Some ran down the hill to meet him, but I didn't want to deal with any skinned knees and crying children, so I made them stay with me. He finally reached the main group and then all the kids crowded around to see what treats he would pull out of his bag. Schmutzli stayed with the donkey who carried the bags up the hill. The donkey ended up standing right next to Noah and the girls. Sarah petted him, but Noah just kept trying to climb up my leg to get away from him. I knew the donkey had tried to smell Noah's head again when I felt the vice like hold on my leg squeeze just a bit tighter. Finally, Schmutzli caught on that Noah was not thrilled and moved the donkey a bit further away. I would have moved myself, but we were all smashed in this big group of people, and I didn't have much wiggle room.
Our bags ended up being right on top, so we didn't have too long of a wait at all. Samichlaus would call up each child, listen to their poem or song, and then hand them their bag. Sarah was called first, but since both girls were a bit scared, they decided to go together. They sang an adorable little song they had learned in school about a snowflake, and Samichlaus was very impressed. Noah and I ended up singing "Jingle Bells" together, due to stage fright. Nick refused to come when his name was called, and Alexandra smiled and nodded her head hello and waved to Samichlaus much to the amusement of the crowd. Samichlaus did ask, about halfway through, "How many Charles' are there?" haha!
We walked back to the car and went home to a dinner of everything that came in the bags. Fortunately, I had baked bread that day, so Chris and I were also able to eat something. And Noah very happily shared his oranges with me. He refused to eat his peanuts, which he normally loves, because they had been touching his oranges inside the bag. I explained to him that the peanuts were safe in their shells, and the oranges were inside their peels so there was no danger of cross-contamination. He still decided to wait a day "just to be safe".