When I first put Kariana on Santa's lap.
For a brief moment I thought we were going to have a repeat of last year's crying photos with Santa, but Kariana made a great come back and we were able to get some terrific photos.
We've been talking a lot about Santa Claus and Christmas. Partly because 'tis the season and partly because I didn't want Kariana to be scared of Santa like she was last year. The Elf on the Shelf is visiting us this year. In case you don’t know the story, here’s the premise: they are little elves that are Santa's helpers and report to him how naughty or nice the children have been. Each child has an elf that they get to name. Kariana named hers Good Elf. He sits watching you during the day, then he returns to the North Pole each night to report to Santa on your behavior. You know he’s left and come back because he appears in a different place each morning, and you have to go find him in his new spot. In order to “preserve his mystique,” you are not allowed to touch the elf, but you can talk to him and tell him what you want for Christmas.
It's a cute idea, plus it's another excuse for mommy and daddy to use the Santa card. I'm not sure Kariana is quite old enough yet to really understand the elf or Santa, but we have fun reading the story each night and looking for the elf in the morning. I do let her touch him, because a two year old wants to touch everything and how hard would it be to try to explain to her that once she finds him, she can't touch him. Hopefully, Santa and the elf won't penalize us for breaking the no touch rule this year.
Anyway, the night before we were going to have our pictures taken with Santa, I was trying to get Kariana into her crib. It was past her bedtime and she was doing her usual brokering of "one more book" so I did what presumably any parent would do around this time of the year. I told her Santa was not going to come if she didn't go to bed. I didn't really expect her to understand, but the look in Kariana's eyes told me she did. She turned to me with the widest eyes ever, her lower lip and chin started to quiver and she started to cry. Of course, this broke my heart. Tobin heard her crying and came to my rescue. He managed to get her into bed and she immediately grabbed her blankets and put her head down to go to sleep. Is the Santa card working? Kariana knows Santa says "Ho Ho Ho" and has a moustache like Pop Pop. If you ask Kariana what she wants for Christmas, she'll tell you Thomas. It's still hard to tell, but she seems to be getting it.
After the photographer's assistant gave her a candy cane and asked her to say "cheese." Great recovery!
Family photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment