No Love for Santa

We don't play up the whole Santa thing too much with the kids. We'll see how that goes as they get older. We have a lot of fun traditions for them at Christmas, and we don't outlaw Santa by any means, but we just like to hit some of the more important elements of the holiday. So we don't go way out of our way for Santa. But on campus they were having a Santa come for families to visit. It seemed like a good, get-in-the-spirit-of-things family activity, convenient, and free pictures and cookies. So why not?

Turns out our kids are not comfortable sitting on and conversing with a strange old man, even if he looks like Santa. And it turns out, I'm kind of okay with that.

Ellie was a little wary, just watching from a distance.

Charlie was none too happy (and may have thought something smelled fishy about some old man just giving stuff away to strangers).

 So hesitant.

 So Brady and I had to be in the shot too. Charlie still can't figure this guy out. And Ellie agreed to daintily fold her hands, but notice how she's trying to squirm off my lap?

 But the candy cane made it all worth it. And apparently it is the most amazing candy cane I had ever seen (trying to keep some enthusiasm up for Ellie). Lesson learned. No more Santa visits.

We went to an extended family party that had a Santa too (no pictures of this one--not that I have anyway). All the kids who sat on his lap got a little glass (yes, glass!) ornament filled with white glitter that Ellie sooo wanted. She thought it was a snow globe. She finally approached Santa with me, and then the Santa made ME sit on his lap and hold Ellie. It was awkward. I see why she doesn't like it. She wouldn't talk to him either. So he kept asking her questions. He asked her, "Do you want a doll for Christmas?" I wanted to give him a swift elbow jab. Are you kidding me? A doll was not in the plans this year. Santa shouldn't plant ideas. Finally, through gritted teeth, Ellie said, "I want a snow globe." How convenient. She got her ornament and ran off. Atta girl.

A little while later Ellie's preschool had a Christmas party and all the mom's had a different activity for the kids. One of the moms did photos with silly hats. She had a Santa hat and a paper Santa beard for the kids to wear. Ellie really liked the beard, but she refused to wear the hat. She really, really liked the reindeer antlers.

This kid really has a thing against Santa.

Finally, we got the perfect activity. We had taken the kids out for ice cream and our favorite spot was closed, so we stopped at a frozen custard shop near a park on the other side of town. A nice lady asked if we knew about the activity at the carousel at the park that very night. Santa would be there and they were offering free rides on the carousel. Ellie had been asking to go on the Merry-go-round since we took her on it once last summer, but it is closed all winter. So we headed across the street, skirted around Santa, hopped on the carousel and couldn't have had a better family outing if we'd planned it.

Both kids absolutely loved it.

 Look at that face. The magic and thrill on her face of not being forced to sit and converse with Santa. You just can't manufacture that.