Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus

Last night we attended our church's Christmas party, and at the end, Santa Claus made an appearance. My kids had different reactions to that.

Gabriella knows all about Santa not being real, which we didn't even have to explain to her actually. A couple years ago she just figured it out herself. When I said something about Santa coming soon, she said, "Mom, Santa's not real." When I asked her why she thought that, her response was, "Mom, come on, a man with flying reindeer who goes around the whole world in one night? Sorry, but that just can't happen." So she basically spared me having to eventually tell her on my own, which I was glad for. Anyway, back on topic- in her eyes she's way too old and cool to sit on Santa's lap, but not too cool for a candy cane, so she skipped the whole line and went straight to the lady with the basket of candy.

Dario Jr. still believes in Santa, but he's old enough to realize that the Santas that he sees in public all look different. We've gotten around that by telling him that those are all the real Santa's helpers. Santa needs helpers because he's so busy at the North Pole right now trying to get ready for Christmas, that he just doesn't have time to come and see everyone right now, so his helpers see the kids and then they report back to Santa. He wasn't too excited to sit on the fake Santa's lap, but he really wanted a candy cane, so he did it anyway. As we were standing in line though, he said, "I'm gonna pull down his beard and then jump off and grab a candy cane." Such a darling, ain't he?

Then there was Roman. Oh this was the fun part. Last year he didn't really get the concept of Santa. This year, he knows exactly what's going on, which is that this nice fat bearded guy is here for the sole purpose of giving him candy. (He doesn't get that Santa brings toys yet, he's only concerned with the candy.) He was so excited while we were standing in line. Actually, I had to pull him back from Santa to get him in line in the first place, because he marched straight up and stood in front of Santa trying to get his attention while another little girl was in his lap. As we stood in line he was talking so fast he could hardly keep up with himself. What he said went something like this, "Is that Santa?!Does he have candy?!Is he gonna gimme candy?!He's gonna gimme candy!Where the North Pole?!He lives in the North Pole!Why the North Pole?!Where he lives?!He says 'Ho Ho Ho'!I got a cookie!I'm gonna show him my cookie!Are he's gone be 'ho' in?!" (As in "ho ho ho" ing). It was so fun to see him excited, but then I actually missed seeing him talk to Santa, because it seems that while I was engaged in conversation with some ladies behind us in line, he snuck back up to the front and inserted himself onto Santa's lap. When I noticed he was gone and turned to look for him, I saw him coming back from Santa's direction with a smile on his face and a candy cane in hand. I didn't see the exchange, but I imagine it went something like this:

Roman barges to front of line and hops onto Santa's lap.

Santa: "Uh, hello little boy. What's your name?" (and why are you
unattended?!)

Roman: "Roman. Are you gonna gimme some of that candy?" points to
basket of candy canes

Santa: "Oh, hi Roman. Have you been a good boy this year?"

Roman: "Yes. Are you gonna gimme me candy?"

Santa: "Well, just a minute here. What do you want for Christmas this year,
Roman?"

Roman: "Candy." (points again) "Right there. That
candy."

Santa gives up and hands the kid a candy cane. Roman walks back to
me, pleased as punch with how his visit with Santa went.

Oh the joy of Christmas!