Who is ‘DONDER?’

We set out for Old Sac again, but this time is was a semi-rainy night. We wanted to go see the “Boat Parade” and the Christmas Light Show down there.

The boat parade was a lot longer than we though it was going to be!  Since it was dark, the photos didn’t really turn out too well, but you get the idea.

Then we went to see the Christmas light show they have in one of the streets. (Of course we stopped at the favorite candy store, where all the candy is in barrels, and they let you pick a few pieces of  candy to eat as you are walking around the store).

It was raining a little, but it wasn’t cold, but it kept the crowds down. The light show is each weekend in December, and I was talking to one of the store workers who said when it’s not raining, it is SO SO crowded, there isn’t even to move in the crowd. The best place to see the show is by standing in the middle of the street, and it can get extremely crowded. She said the crowds were really really light the night we went, due to the rain, so it turned out great for us!

The show was pretty cool, and talked about some of the history of Sacramento, and then depicted The Night Before Christmas. 

One thing I don’t ever remember hearing or seeing in the story of The Night Before Christmas, was when all the reindeer were named.  There were all the familiar ones, like Dasher, Dancer, and Blitzen, but then there was DONDER?  Huh? Who was DONDER?  Shouldn’t it have been DONNER?  Certainly, they couldn’t have just gotten the name wrong for this big event!

So I went home, confused as to who Donder was, and looked it up. Seems that the poem was originally published in 1823 and was submitted anonymously. At this time two of the reindeer were named ‘Dunder’ and ‘Blixem’ which were Dutch words meaning ‘thunder’ and ‘lightning’.  Over the next 13 years the poem was published all over the place and it was getting popular.

In 1837 another publisher printed a version of the poem with a few changes which included changing ‘Blixem’ to ‘Blixen’ to make it rhyme more with ‘Vixen’ and ‘Dunder’ was changed do ‘Donder’ to make it flow better. This version of the poem soon became the standard and the reindeer were then called Donder and Blixen, which incidentally, are German for thunder and lightning.

But how ‘Donder’ became ‘Donner’ is a mystery. In 1939 the popular poem was turned into a promotional kids booklet given away at Montgomery Wards department stores, and Donder had become Donner.  In 1949 the story was turned into a song sung by Gene Autry.

So if we were to remain true to the story, and used the English translation to their original names, the two reindeer should be named ‘Thunder’ and ‘Lightning’.  But as to trying to change it again back to Donder? After all these years? And after what we are used to?   That’s just silly. Keep it Donner.  The poor little reindeer I’m sure is getting tired of his name being changed.

As we were walking back to the car, we found a little shooting gallery. We had never seen it here before, so Jackob (yeah, that’s the Dutch-German version of Jacob – maybe we should switch his name??) went at it and got the high score of the day of 2700!

Leatherby’s controlled the car on the way home, and somehow we ended up there.  I think it’s the ice cream somehow exerting a force on the car.  I went to go potty and noticed a very odd thing. You know those pull down tables that you can use to change a baby’s diaper on? 

I noticed that it also had instructions in braille.  Am I the only one who things this is a bad idea?

If you are BLIND, do you really think you would take your baby BY YOURSELF, in the bathroom, working your way to the stall, holding the baby, not knowing where the stall even is, or where the bathroom even is, and then trying to find the pull down table, pulling it down, still all the while holding the baby, (unless you put the baby down on the floor, of course no longer than 5 seconds). 

Ok, let’s say you get the table pulled down, and it doesn’t keep popping closed, like they normally do, and you get the baby on the table.  Now, remember YOU ARE BLIND! YOU CAN’T SEE!  You can’t see that the baby is moving all around. You can’t see the baby is almost to fall OFF the table. Now, the instructions are on the BOTTOM of the table, so you have bend down, and try to read them with your hand.  I’m sure the baby is crying now, and then you stand back up to SEE what is the matter, errh uh, I mean FEEL what is the matter, and as you stand up, you bump your head on the table, closing it, but the baby is still on it, so the baby gets jammed between the table and the wall.

Ok, now let’s say you finally figure out where the baby is, and the table is flat. Now, you have to change the diaper. So you can probably get the diaper off ok, but then you have to wipe, oopss..you just wiped the baby’s mouth instead…now you have to put the diaper on….nope..that’s the baby’s arms – not legs…. 

Ok, now you have gotten the baby changed, and you have to figure out where to throw away the diaper, and get back to your table to finish eating your ice cream.  By the time you get back, your ice cream is all melted, and you head home with a baby that has an upside down diaper on, and his pants on his head like a beenie.

Am I the only one that thinks blind people should not be expected to change a baby’s diaper alone in a public bathroom? How often is that really going to happen? How often is a blind person going to go out to eat ALONE with only a baby?  I’m guessing not very often.

And DONDER?  I’m not adopting that name. It’s DONNER still to me.