Santa Claus

Audrey was so excited that Santa would be making an appearance at school. I talked with her about what to expect, even had her sit on my lap and pretend that I was Santa, asking Santa's typical questions. Her initial request from Santa was to have him bring her a reindeer, but she later changed to request a doll or a train. Audrey confirmed with me that I would be there with my camera, and indeed I was.

When I arrived to pick her up, she remained excited about seeing Santa. She took my hand, and we headed to the room with Santa. She walked in with me, spotted him, and we walked toward him.

I noticed Audrey slowing down. I bent down to clarify that she's still planning to sit on his lap.

I heard a very quiet, "No."

So, Audrey really didn't like Santa. No surprise there. He's a great idea from a distance, but up close, not so much. It seemed that every parent was there, coaxing their child to go sit on this strange person's lap. All the kids I could see were quite distressed, and the ones who weren't were the ones who had already been distressed by having to approach Santa.

I thought with some reassurance that curious Audrey would approach Santa. The next kid to sit on Santa's lap was little Ian from Audrey's class. He looked content on Santa's lap, so I called Audrey's attention to how big Ian is and look at how he brave he is!

No sooner did Audrey look to see her friend Ian than did big tears start rolling down his face!

I decided that I wasn't going to make her go up to Santa if she didn't on her own. But, then Santa spotted Audrey and held out a sticker for her. Tempting.

Hmmm...maybe I'll just go grab the sticker and run.

With the help of the photographer, Audrey willingly approached Santa, who put her princess sticker on her sweater. Audrey was content with that, but not so much when Santa picked her up.

Maybe next year.

Sure hope Santa gets paid well because there was an awful lot of crying in that room!