Santa

When you were growing up were you afraid of Santa? I don’t remember being afraid of him but sort of shy towards him. Luke was full on scared of the fat jolly dude, he would squirm and whine and stand behind me waiting on the candy cane and then run. I wasn’t particularly fond of him, he was loud and furry and his clothes were extra bright, something you don’t see every day. I knew he gave out toys and candy if you sat on his lap but I didn’t care for the idea. Jacks loved him; he would sit there a beam out a huge smile and yank on his beard per our PGs orders – something about good luck. Lori wanted no part of the freaky guy. We would walk in the mall and her eyes grew huge in terror knowing he was in the building. She would hold our hands and tuck her head down so she didn’t have to see him.
Luke and I talked about it a while back on one of those “remember when” conversations. He would dread going to the mall during the holidays, for fear of being asked if he wanted to see Santa. He said he hated the idea of some stranger coming in the house dropping off presents in the middle of the night, however all those fears left him when he got that bike or GI Joe.
Last year, PG and I sat in the mall one Saturday while Mom and G shopped; we chose the area where Santa was stationed. There was sure to be some sort of action going on in that area of the mall. I watched all sorts of kids clamber up on his lap. The screamers, the kids with fingers in their mouths and other holes, heads bent down refusing to look up, the ones with utter look of shock on their faces, happy kids and the shy ones. There was even a few they had to actually remove from his lap, they enjoyed the stay there so much.
Luke called me Sunday to let me in on the scoop with his crew and Santa. He said Kyle didn’t like him much. Luke said they stood in line for 20minutes waiting to get that picture. The whole time coaching him what he wanted for Christmas, he stood there with a smile on his face but with each step it slowly was fading away. By the time it was his turn his whole view of getting on that mans lap had changed. In the passing off to Santa, Kyle had decided to cling onto Luke for dear life. Luke figured if they plopped Camen on the other side he might like the idea but he hated it more, reaching for his sister but holding on to Luke screaming “sissy!!” Camen sat there but was confused the whole time; needless to say they have an action shot with Santa this year.
Looking at it now Santa is a mass of confusion, we teach our kids not to talk to strangers but we insist they tell this guy our secrets and to sit in his lap and take his candy. He is bright and furry and loud and huge, our parents pass us off to him as they stand there and laugh and try and coax us to smile.
I don’t know if I will force my kids to see him, maybe if we are in the mall and the jolly dude is there I might ask them if they would like to sit on his lap and tell what they want that year. Our church does a program that the kids can see Santa, seems to be a little easier on the parents and the kids and probably Santa as well.