Santa's Village

On Thanksgiving, a commercial for The Santa Clause came on TV. I said to Connor, "Look, it's Santa Claus!" He replied, "Santa is bringing me Ratatouille for Christmas." It took me off guard for several reasons. First, he had never even seen the movie. Second, he pronounced it better than some adults. Third, he said it so matter-of-fact. And lastly, that was the first time I had heard that Santa was going to give it to him for Christmas. I decided to take that tidbit of info and run with it, building up his excitement for a trip to the mall to sit on Santa's lap so he could tell him what he wants for Christmas. I guess we've been lucky the past two years. In the past, he's shown no aversions to the man in the red suit. I honestly didn't think this year would be any different. Yesterday we saw one of Santa's lame helpers at WalMart. Connor was very outgoing and playful with him. WELL, today we got to the mall at the exact time Santa went "on duty." The line wasn't too long, but we still had to wait for about 20 minutes. Connor kept trying to get glimpses of Santa and was very excited. I explained that Santa was going to ask him what he wanted for Christmas. He immediately replied, "Ratatouille!" He was fascinated with the decorations and little animals in Santa's village as we waited. When it was finally his turn, a scene from The Christmas Story came to mind: Ralphie's little brother, Randy, sitting on Santa's lap, turning to look at him, then screaming. Although there was no screaming involved, he was definitely squirming and trying to move as far away from Santa as possible. Amidst his apparent terror, Santa asked him inevitable question: "What would you like for Christmas?" He stopped struggling to get away, turned to Santa with a grimace on his face, and shouted "I want Ratatouille!" then jumped off Santa's lap. The photo ops were obviously not what I was hoping for, but I got some good ones for mocking purposes later on in his life. As I was waiting for Santa's elves to print the pictures, I saw a look of confusion cross Connor's face as he looked back towards Santa. I asked him what was wrong. He looked at me and said, "Where's my Ratatouille?" Poor kid! He thought Santa would give him his present right there! I explained he had to tell Santa what he wanted so he could bring it to him on Christmas Eve. As soon as we were out of Santa's line of sight, Connor was back to his bubbly self, even wanting to pose for a picture with a reindeer.

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