Santa baby

Phwew! Christmas is over. The last month was a flurry (though, sadly, little snow) of activity, with various family visits, get-togethers with friends and neighbors, baking cookies, shopping, wrapping, and getting Isabel excited about Santa Claus. We enjoyed watching all the classic Christmas programs with which we grew up--Charlie Brown, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Frosty the Snowman--with her and seeing her delight at pointing out snowman or Santa decorations and other images. "Kissmas Twee!" is probably the cutest thing I've ever heard her say.

We took her to the Pancakes, Paws, and Santa Claus event at the Zoo. She ate an entire Krispy Kreme, a pancake, several pieces of fried potatoes, and some scrambled eggs (gee, do you think it's a growth spurt?), colored, sang carols with the bigger kids, and said "Yay! Santa!" when the big guy made his arrival. Going anywhere near him, however, was another story. She went from giggle to shriek in 2 microseconds when we tried to get her to sit with Santa. I guess it's a good thing that she's afraid of strange old men saying "Ho, ho, ho" to her. And probably a pretty normal reaction for a toddler her age.