I did revisit the Los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings) in Mexico and La Befana in Italy. Los Tres Magos seemed to be the same as the year before, still not my favorite, but still very good. La Befana also seemed good, but not quite as good as I remembered from the year before, but I was feeling pretty sick at that time and I had just seen another really good one that day too.
Germany - Helga
With a name like Helga I expected an older woman, but I was wrong, Helga is a pretty young woman and this was a nice story. Here we learned about the tradition of Christmas Trees and the first Nutcracker. Even with German heritage I didn't think this was the best one, but it's a bit more contemporary then many of the others. I think it did have the best setting though, at least in terms of atmosphere.
The American Adventure - Hanukkah
This show has the best setting, it's inside. No dealing with hot or cold or sun in your eyes. As for the show, it was just ok. The woman was nice and the story had an intimate feel to it. But, I grew up with a lot of Jews around me and I felt like I knew more about Hanaukkah then I learned here. I suspect if you've had little contact with Jews this would be more interesting. I did think it was a nice touch that the story teller played with dreidel with the kids after.
Pere Noel tells the story of Christmas in France through a letter from a girl. It's a sweet story about believing in Pere Noel and santa figures. But Pere Noel is too skinny!
Nowell is a lumberjack, what? How can you make all those gifts if your cutting down trees. Or maybe you need the wood for all those toys? I don't know. But this was another good story, reminds me a lot of how Christmas in the US, as much as it's the same for many, it can also be quite different depending on your heritage.
Norway - Sigrid and Christmas Gnome, Julenissen
This was my absolute favorite and you can tell the word is out, this story had the largest crowd of all the ones I have seen. Sigrid tells the story of Julenissen, which she doesn't believe. Julenissen is a gnome who plays tricks on boys and girls. And so Julenissen plays tricks on Sigrid, but since she doesn't believe in him she doesn't understand what is going on. It's quite entertaining.
Even though Christmas is 6 months away, it is time to start planning your trips there!
