Christmas Presents

Christmas Presents
About 2 months ago, while teaching my students "Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer", I had to teach the difference between Samoan Christmases
and American Christmases. I was posed with the question, "Why does a
fat man bring presents to palagi children, but not come to Samoa?"
Teaching about Christmas felt like it was teaching about fairytales.
The kids couldn't comprehend the amount of things we tell palagi
children.
I really like Christmas in Samoa since it isn't about the presents,
and it is really nice family time. This year though, for the first
time I saw something different, I saw proof of presents in my village.
Throughout the last week of December and all of January, 3 kids have
been looking different, as they have been wearing their presents every
day with pride. They were given sneakers, and it was so cute to see
how proud these kids were of the shoes. They know only a few people
in the village have "sports shoes" and now they felt they could
dominate at the different village sports.
One of the kids was given Heeleys, the shoes that skate. These are
hysterical because they are not meant for Samoa, as the only place you
can use them is certain houses in which they took the time to
straighten the concrete floor. With how the roads are here, they are
practically impossible to use outside. It gave me a few laughs seeing
him walk on his tip toes over the rocky areas.
I saw 2 other children playing with their presents, water guns. They
were so cute, and it was great for the hot day it was.
Kids here aren't usually given many gifts, but what you do give them,
they treasure.