Happy Boxing Day!

Or in Switzerland, St. Stephen's Day. This is a holiday in Zurich canton and therefore everything is closed. That is fine with me although I ran out of sparkling apple juice and want some more. Maybe I'll run to the store in the train station and pick some up. The train station grocery stores are always open. :)

Magic Tree House - Not a Good Bedtime Story

The kid was gifted the first four Magic Tree House Books because I thought they would make a good introduction to chapter books. The good news? She loves them! The bad news? She couldn't fall asleep because she was busy asking a billion questions about dinosaurs.

One concept she had problem grasping is that dinosaurs do not reanimate at the museum and eat people. I explained that they were just skeletons and not complete dinosaurs but she doesn't yet have the permanence to understand that death is forever.

Another thing. We are atheists so we have told her about evolution but we never related any sort of story that sounds like Adam and Eve. Well. She asked who the first person was if dinos all died before people existed. That one was a bit tougher. In her mind, the first person must have been a baby without a mommy - but where did the mommy go? Good question.

Like I said, good stories, just not good bedtime ones.

No Chimney for Santa

There aren't a lot of chimneys in Switzerland for Santa to slide down. So instead, Santa breaks in through the window like a good thief. At least that is my takeaway from all the windows in Zurich that have Santa hanging outside a window on a rope with presents on his back.