We saw Santa #1 at the Cookies and Castles event the first weekend in December. Scarlett actually asked to go see him while we were decorating our gingerbread house, so I had high hopes. We were there with the Kovac boys who are older and played it totally cool with Santa. They went first and Scarlett calmly watched them sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Then it was her turn, and suddenly she was stuck to me like glue. I tried to peel her off but finally gave up and just got in the picture with her. (Sweet Max stayed home since he's too little to decorate a gingerbread house. And is it just me, or does it look like Santa could use a Red Bull? And check out that big white bear sneaking up on me from behind -- maybe I should have been trying to make a break for it, too.).
Santa #2 was at the annual Kessler Park neighborhood tree lighting, which is at the big island just a few houses down from ours. Santa #2 has been dubbed by Dana as "Father Christmas" because he looks less like Santa and more like some random guy with a beard from our neighborhood in a green robe with some leaves in his hair (this year he and Mrs. Clause/Mother Christmas (?) mixed things up a bit by driving up in a snazzy white convertible, but I digress ...). Anyhow, Scarlett took one look at Santa #2/Father Christmas and wanted no part of sitting on his lap. And since Max had no idea what was going on, the poor guy got stuck sitting on his lap all by himself before he realized what was happening. And then he realized what was happening. And he promptly freaked out.
Last but not least, we took a trip to NorthPark Mall to visit the "real Santa." He's been doing it for nearly 30 years, and he's somewhat of a celebrity in Dallas. In fact, he's so popular, that as it gets closer to Christmas, the wait can be hours long to see him. There's an elaborate "take a number" system so you don't have to actually stand in line, but the day we went we arrived at 11:30 a.m. and pulled number 200-something and were told our number would be up sometime around 6:00 p.m. I had Scarlett all primed and ready to sit on his lap after much discussion over several days, and both kids were all dressed up, but there was NO WAY we were hanging out at the mall for 6 hours or heading home and coming back up. As luck would have it, on our way out after checking out the train display and eating lunch we swung by again, there was a lull in the line, and the ticket guy let us sneak in. A Christmas miracle! Scarlett held it together (although she was super shy and didn't smile) and did manage to whisper to Santa that she wants a baby doll for Christmas. Max, on the other hand, totally lost it again.
Santa told Scarlett that he will bring her a baby doll and that he'd really like some cookies when he comes to bring the presents, so we'll be sure to do that. But we might not mention it to Max that Santa will be sneaking into the house while we sleep or the poor guy might never want to sleep again. Believe it or not, after all the Santa-related tears, we think Max said Santa a few times today without even a hint of terror in his little baby voice, so hopefully I haven't traumatized him too much.
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