Ian was Santa at a Christmas Eve party we attended this year, and he handed out gifts and cheer to the seven or eight kids who were there. Ian has been Santa several times in the past, and he is always entertaining. Most of the kids liked him a lot, especially in light of the fact that he was handing out presents. Interestingly, his own blood relatives seemed the most troubled by his Santa-ness. Our nephew, Joey, gave Santa a suspicious sidelong look, slid unceremoniously from his lap, and hightailed it to the far end of the room. I thought that Max would do fine. He is generally not at all fearful of strangers, and besides, the whole time he was waiting for his turn with Santa, he was saying "Dada...Dada..." under his breath, so I figured he knew it was Ian. When I plunked him down on Santa's velvety red lap, however, Max's lower lip quivered for a moment, he gave me one horrified look of betrayal, and then he burst into tears. Santa almost did, too. Although I rescued Max almost immediately (that red flowered thing next to Max is my pregnant belly), my sister-in-law managed to get a picture of the moment. If you look closely, you can see the aura of faint but palpable psychological trauma around both Max and Ian. Oh, well. It's not really Christmas if you haven't cried or had a big nervous breakdown at least once or twice.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Coal In His Stocking
Ian was Santa at a Christmas Eve party we attended this year, and he handed out gifts and cheer to the seven or eight kids who were there. Ian has been Santa several times in the past, and he is always entertaining. Most of the kids liked him a lot, especially in light of the fact that he was handing out presents. Interestingly, his own blood relatives seemed the most troubled by his Santa-ness. Our nephew, Joey, gave Santa a suspicious sidelong look, slid unceremoniously from his lap, and hightailed it to the far end of the room. I thought that Max would do fine. He is generally not at all fearful of strangers, and besides, the whole time he was waiting for his turn with Santa, he was saying "Dada...Dada..." under his breath, so I figured he knew it was Ian. When I plunked him down on Santa's velvety red lap, however, Max's lower lip quivered for a moment, he gave me one horrified look of betrayal, and then he burst into tears. Santa almost did, too. Although I rescued Max almost immediately (that red flowered thing next to Max is my pregnant belly), my sister-in-law managed to get a picture of the moment. If you look closely, you can see the aura of faint but palpable psychological trauma around both Max and Ian. Oh, well. It's not really Christmas if you haven't cried or had a big nervous breakdown at least once or twice.
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6 comments:
Santa can be a scary dude
Especially when he is also Ian. :-)
Notice how my glasses are fogging up from the heat of the Santa suit.
I thought your glasses were fogging up because you were so sad that your suit made Max cry.
Well if its any consolation to Ian...just tell him the traumatic clown story from your early days Chelsa. You turned out alright for goodness sake.
Yeah ... but on the other hand, I grew up to be someone who will publish my child's misery and terror on the internet for all to see, and maybe this depravity of mine dates back to the clown incident.
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