Not once...but twice!
We took Addison to see Santa twice. And neither time did she enjoy it in the slightest. I can only imagine what it's like for a child to be thrusted onto the lap of a portly white-haired stranger with a deep voice and white gloves while your trusted parent backs away leaving you all alone. At 2, she doesn't understand this at all, but we had fun. :) The first time we went it was in a small, we'll call it a cottage. Of course, as soon as we get ready to do pictures, the camera has some kind of malfunction. I'm pretty sure this happened last year too. Anyway, we had to hang out with Mrs. Claus, who luckily had an Elmo Christmas book, so Addison calmed down slightly before the trauma of Santa. Finally, they get the camera situated and we rush to put her in his lap so we might capture a tear-free moment. Ah, no such luck. I barely let go of her before she started crying. We fussed over her to try to calm her down. Santa gave her presents, we even tried candy, but she was having none of it. She even pushed Santa's hand away when he offered the candy. Finally she calmed down enough that we could get a couple pictures without active crying. I still like the crying pictures best.
The second time was at a party. He entered the room from behind her and immediately she sensed what was going on. We were coloring and I saw her glance at him out of the corner of her eye. You could feel the tension in the air. We remained coloring for a bit while the mass of children thinned out a little. Grandma and Grandpa stood in line with her. Then the time came. As you see in the second picture, it didn't go any better than the first time. She was clinging to me for dear life...but again, it makes a cute pouty picture.
Santa is everywhere. He was at Sam's last week by the checkout. She stares for a little while, then gets up enough nerve to wave at him...but she's not going close and we're not going to push it. 2 bad Santa experiences in one season is probably enough. Maybe next year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!
