lambscapearchitect: santa

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we took a trip downtown to see Santa Claus. This is the first time we have visited him and done the traditional sit on the lap for the picture scenario. In years past we have seen him at various Christmas events and there was that one awkward run in at The Home Depot but we had never made a special outing. This year Eloise seemed like she was ready and excited. She totally believes in Santa Claus, as she should, being a four year old. I hope that I can preserve the magic for a few more years at least. What I mean is, I hope she doesn't walk in on her dad putting together a dollhouse that her sister receives 'from Santa' the next morning. Sorry, Dad, I do still blame you after all these years.

We went down to Macy's (really, Marshall Field's) on State Street to view the traditional Christmas windows that they create every year. This year they consisted of amazing paper sculptures telling the story of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". The story is printed on the outside of the windows so it is fun to read it to the little ones while they stand in front of the giant displays that have brought the story to life.

Let me go on record as saying that I am not a fan of Macy's in any way. I have so many gripes with that company but that is another post entirely. I will say, however, that the State Street store is amazing. Beautiful architecture, beautiful decorations, beautiful windows. On the 5th floor they have Santaland and guess what you find there, folks?

We waited in line for 45 minutes to see Santa. By 'we', I mean I waited while my sister, Gretchen, disappeared with Eloise who upon her return was wearing a new sparkly headband, carrying a new purse, and holding 6 pairs of Hello Kitty socks. Aunts are awesome.

As we got closer and closer to meeting Santa I could tell Eloise was freaking out a little bit and not in a good way. She has a tendency to build things up in her head and she was getting nervous. I said we would still go in and if she didn't want to talk to him she could just wave and leave. That seemed to calm her down a little. We also tried to distract her by taking 432 pictures while in line.

Finally our turn came to see the Big Guy and she was really shy. He was perfectly nice except he kept calling her Ellie ( she found this unsettling and worried he might deliver her presents to the wrong person). She stayed very close to me and DID NOT want to sit on Santa's lap. Frankly, I'm fine with this. So...my kid doesn't want to sit on some stranger's lap no matter how jolly he is and even if he gives her a peppermint and a button. Totally cool with that. She managed to utter one thing on her list. He asked what she would like this year and she quietly said "the head". I'm sure he knew that she was talking about a lifesize doll's head that had hair that she could style and makeup she could paint on its face. He knew that, right?

Santa seems to have put some magical spell on Eloise because she has no memory of being scared or uneasy or uncomfortable. She talks about Santa like they are the best of friends and can't wait until he comes to her house in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. She even flip flopped on the whole 'Ellie' thing and later told her dad that Santa had come up with the silliest nickname for her--"because that what friends do, you know".