(no subject)

longstrider's library had a Santa Claus tonight, so we took K to see him. I hadn't really planned on a Santa visit because we've been too busy to do much to prepare her for the holidays and I'm allergic to malls at Christmastime. Also, I grew up in a house where we did stockings and went through the formalities of putting out cookies, but it was all very much with a wink of knowing that Santa wasn't real, even when we were young. So I just don't have much emotional investment in Santa or trying to instill the magic of Santa in my child.

But since the children's librarian who had set up the visit has been gone the past month due to a family emergency, actually advertising said Santa had fallen through the cracks until today, when Santa called up to make sure they were still on. So longstrider wanted K there to make sure that there were actually some children there.

I wasn't expecting K to be too interested in Santa. Generally, she's pretty shy around strangers until she has time to size them up and warm up to them. So I was expecting that she would be standoffish but if we gave her enough time, she would probably be willing to go up to him even if she wouldn't sit on his lap. That's about as much as you can expect from the average two-year-old.

I was prepared for a toddler clinging to me. What I wasn't anticipating was a toddler screaming in terror when Santa came running out, the bells on his bag jingling away. She was so upset I had to take her into another room where she couldn't see Santa, and then slowly take her back once she was calm, but not try to get her to come close.

Santa tried, bless him. After the other children had left, he tried talking to her gently but never got more than a wide-eyed stare. She would accept candy canes if I acted as a proxy (although I think the candy canes weren't much of a lure because she's never had a candy cane before and therefore didn't realize they were candy). We tried having me hold her and stand next to Santa so we could get a picture, but even that was too close. Finally, she was willing to get close enough to take a teddy bear, although that was dicey because it involved going into his bag, which jingled the bells again. I think the bells were the key to most of the panic, because she had a visible reaction every time she heard them. That also surprised me because she's never been that noise-sensitive. But clearly she did not like those bells one tiny bit. My hopes for her future career as a hunchback in a French cathedral are dashed.

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We leave tomorrow morning for five days in Michigan. We'll have internet access there, but if I don't post between now and when we get back, I wish everyone a joyous Christmas and safe travelling for those who will be on the road for the holidays.