“Flappie” takes listeners on a roller-coaster Christmas adventure, switching from cute holiday innocence to deliciously dark humor in less than four minutes. It begins with little Youp discovering that his beloved rabbit Flappie has vanished on Christmas morning 1961. Mom says, “Stay out of the shed and be good,” Dad is “busy” tinkering with bikes, and the boy dutifully searches the frosty garden, convinced his pet is hopping somewhere safe. The mystery lingers through breakfast and lunch as the whole family pretends to help, while Youp’s worry grows into full-blown heartbreak.
Then comes the shocking dinner twist: Dad triumphantly lifts the silver serving tray… and Flappie is the main course, neatly carved in three pieces. In that instant, the child’s picture-book Christmas shatters, his father morphs from jolly to monstrous, and the holiday feast becomes a nightmare. The song ends with an eerie mirror image: on Boxing Day, Dad is the one who has disappeared, and young Youp ominously warns Mom not to enter the shed. Wrapped in catchy cabaret style and delivered with mischievous storytelling, “Flappie” is a darkly comic tale about betrayal, lost innocence, and the chilling lengths a child might go to for revenge—making it a perennial Dutch Christmas classic that’s equal parts hilarious and unsettling.