Santa Season

Last weekend I accidently put a Christmas cd in and everyday since then Ashton has been begging for more holiday music. She is especially fond of "Jingle Bells," although the Bob Dylan version we have is a bit raspy for my liking. At any rate, she points at every decorated widow in town and gawks at the Christmas trees with glee. It's amazing how aware she is that the holiday is just around the corner. Weeks ago she started asking for a racoon family like her beaver family. The "beavers" came with a little book, which is great, until you get to the last page where all the animal families in "the community" are conveniently on display. That happens to be her favorite page. So, we finally broke down and told her that "if she was a good little girl" she could have the 'coons for Christmas--maybe even take them on the plane to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Mexico. Since then all she can talk about is her racoons on the plane to Mexico. When I saw that our local kids store was featuring Santa this weekend I thought we'd give the whole jolly experience a go. If you remember from past years Ms. Isadora has burst into painful tears on St. Nick's knee. Today, my little 2 1/2 year old climbed up on his lap and said she wanted some racoons for Christmas. When he smiled and asked, "Anything else?" She said, "Yes. I want a princess outfit, and three barbies too." Then she half smiled before looking at me cautiously. Although she never gave me a beaming smile of joy, at least she didn't cry in fear. It's amazing the difference one year can make. My little two year old knows exactly what she wants.  (Side story: Last week at the library she choose 15 books. When it came time to check out she pulled the stool out from under the counter, grabbed my card, scanned it and then proceeded to scan and bag all of the books on her own. That is to say, she wouldn't let me put a finger on a book. "I got this. I'm a big girl. See, I can do it all by myself." Yes indeed! I suppose with number two on the way I can embrace the fact that my toddler is now a little girl, although it kinda makes me want to cry the way she used to on Santa's knee.)

She wasn't that fond of Santa's attempt to make her giggle. Infact, that's about when she hopped off his knee. After all, her business was done, right?

Probably the coolest thing about this Santa Claus was that he donated $1000 to Toys for Tots....

we merely donated a small gift.