First Santa Encounter

Teia and Kai have never been to visit a mall Santa. I know most families have the quaint pic of the kids on Santa's knee. We have alot of pics. But not that one. Mostly it is my deep seated aversion to malls after the 1st of December. And my deep seated aversion to crowds and standing in lines. Because of my aversions, my kids are missing out. But I don't worry about it too much. I think while they may be missing out on the mall Santa, they're still pretty happy kiddos and at this point, they don't really know what they're missing.

Still when Santa showed up at Greg's work party last week, I was curious to see their reaction. I have heard about screams of terror and refusals to go near the mall Santa from some of my friends' little ones, while others perch happily on his knee recounting their Christmas list.

Teia was ripping it up on the dance floor when Santa arrived, while Kai was taking care of business in the lou (so he missed the jingle bell announced arrival). I wish I had known it was about to happen so I could have whipped out the video cam b/c the emotions that danced across Teia's little face were unforgettable. First surprise turning to shock turning to "don't you dare make me go up there!"

Even the lure of a present couldn't persuade her, although after Mama stood in and rec'd Teia's gift on her behalf, she wouldn't let go of it. Kai to our surprise willingly, albeit guardedly, walked up to Santa. "Would you like to sit on Santa's knee?" the ol' Christmassy fella asked. "No" was Kai's definitive yet calm response. Then he ever so tentatively accepted his present, not really sure about the whole thing.

So here it is, the first pic of a Fennell kidlet with the guy in the red suit.