Santa Claus

I worked on Christmas eve but promptly left at 2pm to come home to Tim and Ella.  It was a sweltering hot day so I was glad to come home to the air conditioning where we all just sat, played, wrapped presents and relaxed.

I had been wanting Ella to have a photo with Santa this year but she is not a big fan of the jolly man.  I had tried to warm her up by reading books about Santa and walking past him in the shopping centre, but the minute she sees him you can just tell that she's not comfortable.  I know she's still young and really when you think about it, he is pretty scary.  Big fat man wearing all red with a big white beard - that's pretty daunting, but still it's nice to have a keep sake each year.

Tim took Ella to the shops on Christmas eve while I was working and was hoping to get a snapshop to surprise me but unfortunately she screamed the whole time and although the photo's were pretty hilarious, he couldn't bring himself to spend the $50 for a photo like that.

I had already decided that I would bring home a Santa suit from work and get Tim to dress up in the hopes that we could take a photo ourselves. I thought perhaps if she was in a familiar environment and if Santa had a familiar voice she might be ok.  I was wrong.

Tim looked pretty legit in his suit but the minute Ella saw Santa she started bawling her eyes out.  She was not happy, even when Daddy took off the beard and spoke to her.  The suit went straight back into the bag.

A little later that night I was giving Ella a bath and she was having lots of fun.  Tim thought it would be a good idea to try out the Santa suit again unbeknownst to both of us.  So we were playing the bath tub and I saw Ella look up and literally freeze.  I turned around and there was Santa's head peering around the door into the bathroom.  It scared me so I can only imagine what Ella thought!  She immediately turned into a plank and sunk down into the bath so she couldn't see him, her eyes almost popping out of her head.

I'm not quite sure what Tim was thinking but that was the last strike with Santa and Ella.  We didn't try again, except the next morning when Ella came into our bedroom and saw the suit tucked inside the bag and the white beard and wig on top, she just pointed and said "Oh dear" in a very dramatic little voice.

Maybe next year...