SPOILER ALERT: If you or anyone reading this post with you believes in Santa, you might want to come back tomorrow. 🙂
On Saturday, while I was in Wisconsin visiting my brother and his family, we decided to take my three-year-old nephew, Kole, to have his pictures taken with Santa.
Of course, we didn’t tell him why we just happened to be stopping at Wal-Greens that morning until we knew for sure how long the line was going to be. To our surprise, there was not a line, owing partly to the fact, I’m sure, that a major snow had fallen the night before. It might also have had something to do with the Santa.
Bless his heart, the Santa was really trying. He was wrapped up tight in his stuffed red suit, and “his” snowy white beard was combed neatly. He was patient and polite with the children and the adults. But the man underneath the hat looked to be about 27, not some jolly old elf, and his boots were more like felt galoshes than sleigh-worthy footwear.
So when we suddenly announced to Kole that we were not at Walgreens to buy milk but rather to see Santa, he was a little suspicious. Until my brother actually picked him up and sat him right there on Santa’s lap, Kole wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. But once he was up there and didn’t have to look at the Gen-Xer with the fake beard, Kole just went with it. He even flashed one of his new squinty, toothy smiles for the camera.
By the time the young man handed him a candy cane, Kole was convinced it was Santa himself. Later, when he was recounting to his mommy who he saw that morning, he said, “It was the ‘Ho, ho, ho’ one!”
For three-year-olds, even cheesy imitations offer the magic and mystery of Christmas. We adults, the mature, sophisticated ones, aren’t so easily deceived.
Or are we?
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More Advent links . . .
Aimee’s December Daily Quietness
Ann’s Why a True Christmas Might Be Painful at {in}courage
Lisa-Jo’s second post in her series Pregnant with Christmas
Glynn’s Nostalgic for that Aluminum Tree
I’m also joining Bonnie Gray’s “Unwrapping Jesus” community writing project today . . . visit her site for more on “unwrapping Jesus” discoveries.
Hi Charity, it’s wonderful to have your holiday brew in the jam this week! Children will draw near for a candy cane… and sometimes we want a lap to climb on. May it be our Lord Jesus this Christmas.
I had to laugh. This reminds me so much of our two sons (when they were little). The oldest was the total ham for the camera — I don’t think we have one photo of him when he wasn’t hamming it up and “posing.” The youngest had a morbid fear of the camera — and would get hysterical at the first sign of one. Our Santa pictures were (still are) something to behold.
I loved this post and so glad to have found your blog. You are an excellent writer. I will bookmark it on google reader.Have a wonderful weekend.