Partying with Santa - NOT!

Party season has officially begun.  The girls kicked off the season with a party at their school.  I dug out my old curling iron from the 80s and gave them both some curly locks for the party.  Their school always puts on great parties.  They had treats, ornament making, games, music and Santa even stopped by the party.

Kendall is a big 4 year old this year, so she participated in the Christmas performance.

The biggest surprise of all was when Santa arrived.  Both girls knew in advance that he was going to be there.  Kendall had quite a list of questions that she wanted to ask him:

What do the reindeer eat? 

What does he eat? 

How fast does his sleigh go?  etc.

Sidney was talking a big game.  She claimed that she was NOT going to sit on his lap, but she WOULD talk to him.  Well as soon as Santa arrived and shouted out his "Ho. Ho. Ho."  She began screaming and climbed up me like a spider monkey.  There was no way I was going to be able to pry her loose.  We immediately headed for the treat table.  She was perfectly content as long as she did not have to see him OR hear him.  Kendall decided that she was not very interested in seeing him either.  She said that she would like to go back and finish making ornaments.  So that is exactly what we did.  The only problem was we actually had to get within 50 feet of Santa to get to the craft room.  Sidney clung to me relentlessly as we made our way across the room.  Once they were safely inside the classroom, they were the last ones to leave the party.

Two days prior to the school party, Kendall and I were in Walmart doing some shopping.  She has never been fearful of Santa.  We were finishing up ou shoping, when they announced over the speaker that Santa was in the store.  I asked her if she wanted to go see him and she sort of half nodded.  I thought that was a bit strange, but in my own excitement did not pay too much attention.  I grabbed her hand, and we started trotting over to the garden area.  Suddenly I saw Santa in the distance.  He started waving at us and I picked up the pace.  At that instant, Kendall put the breaks on.  She pulled my hand back and said, "I don't want to go see him."  I asked, "Are you sure?  He is right there waving at us."  She said, "No mommy.  I do not want to go see him."  Okay.  So we turned on our heels, as I sadly waved goodbye to Santa. 

Then last Friday there was my work Christmas party.  Each year, Santa makes an appearance.  He brings each of the kids a gift.  It is pretty cool.  Sidney did not think it was so cool.  Here she is right after Santa arrived. 

Kendall braved the waters to go accept both her and Sidney's gifts from the jolly old man. 

This year at the work party, we had a 'kids" room setup.  The kids had movies, games, music, food and even had gingerbread men to decorate.  There was a wonderful girl named Andrea who kept the kids entertained, while the parents got to enjoy the festivities.

This strange fear of Santa has not dampened the holiday spirit though.  Kendall made a special request for her own Christmas tree this year. 

Sidney got a special penguin that lights up to decorate her room for the holidays.

The girls can hardly wait for Christmas this year.  A funny story happened last night.  Kevin and I got the girls Go Go Pups for Christmas this year.  They have been asking for them since last August when they saw Hallie's.  For those who may not be familiar, these pups are the loudest things, and they CANNOT be stopped.  We have been hiding them in our closet.  Every time I turn out the light I have to fake cough to drown out the barking.  Saturday night I wrapped them up and put them under the tree.  Kevin was thinking that if they were wrapped up that they would not bark.  No such luck.  He closed the doors to the sun room in hopes that the girls would not notice.  So yesterday afternoon, I was in the bedroom and Kevin was upstairs.  I came out to hear the girls in the sun room and Kendall exclaiming, "SID, IT IS A GO GO PUP.  SID, WE ARE GETTING GO GO PUPS!"  Kevin came down and tried to convince her that she was hearing things.  Then the girls proceeded to shake rattle and roll every present under the tree.  They grew especially excited if they saw their name on a tag.  Their anticipation and excitement is contagious.  They informed me tonight, "Only 6 more days until Christmas!"