Sad Santa

What is it about the Big Guy that freaks little kids out so bad? I mean, is it the booming "HO HO HO!" that does it or just the extra-long white facial hair??

We never had any luck with Mall Santa photos, right from when Dash was a little guy. The first Santa photo has Mr G practically sitting on Santa's knee with little baby Dash clinging to him looking blotchy-eyed after finally stopping his howling...

So the next year we invested in our own Santa suit, $20 at the Warehouse - bargain! By then the Miss Fab (a.k.a. Princess) had joined our wee family, so there were two toddlers ready for their smiley pics with Mr C (alias Mr G).

It all turned to custard after that first booming "HO HO HO!" ... Miss Fab's bottom lip started to quiver and her face crumpled and turned red. The famous Air Raid Siren started up and no way was she going to sit on anyone's knee and smile! No way was she going anywhere near that freak with the white fluffy face! Even after Daddy dropped the voice and the beard, there were still shuddering sniffles and real tears moving southwards for some time.

The following year, we let the kids watch daddy get dressed into his Santa outfit. Surely then Miss Fab would sit on his knee? Nope. Even though she had witnessed firsthand the transformation from Daddy to Santa, she kept her distance until he removed the beard.

When Daddy has the Santa suit on it's like he has turned into a completely different person; the kids relate to him completely differently; speaking politely and referring to him as "santa" not "daddy"!

The next year Santa knocked at the door; his sack contained wrapped up PJ's for the kids to open and wear on Christmas Eve. The 3-yr-old and 5-yr-old were now happy to sit on his knee, chat happily and give Santa kisses. They even seemed to overlook/ignore the fact that it was really Daddy knocking on their door. There was an extra stocking hung up that year - for the "baby bump" due in April.
Santa photos were about to get sadder again...

Sure enough, the next year baby Scrag did the whole screaming crying thing as soon as he spotted the Bearded One. Dash and Miss Fab calmed him down and we managed to snap a few pics, which while not exactly happy, weren't tooooo miserable either.

This year we heard about the Enchanted Forest and Santa's House at Smith & Caughey's in the city... oooh, lets go and get a photo with the Store Santa this year!

The one-hour queues turned us back last Saturday. But yesterday we made another foray into the City; this time with some lovely friends. Thankfully the queues were indeed much shorter and The Enchanted Forest was indeed Magical. All those trees festooned with fairy lights; they seemed to go on forever. The kids wrote letters to Santa, we took lots of pics and then lined up again for our turn on Santa's knee...

Scrag stood gazing at the Big Guy while he watched his little friend have his turn. Scrag's friend cried and protested, but they did manage to get one good shot.

Our turn. All of a sudden I had a Limpet clinging onto me for dear life. The Limpet's eyes were round bowls of fear; his terrified screams echoing through the Enchanted Forest.

So here I am in the Santa Photo; Scrag is still terrified, even on my knee (such a pity because the Santa was a lovely old man). We'll have another go on Christmas Eve: my dad is going to dress up as Santa and knock on the door with the Christmas PJ's... maybe Scrag will smile for him??

Next year my little guy will be nearly three. So I am expecting that our Santa photo will not be so Sad in 2010 :)

How do your kids go with Santa photos?

Thanks and Goodbye

In one hour school is finished for the year. Being Tuesday, today was also my Walking Bus Day... and we woke up to rain. I'm not talking drizzle or gentle showers; I mean the kind that pelts out of the sky as if it's mad at you. And of course (today of all days) I also woke up late (managing to somehow ignore all annoying requests for food/TV/hair gel).

THEN - horror of horrors - I realised that I had yet to package up the teachers' Christmas Gifts.
Panic stations! Thankfully Mr G didn't have one of his umpteen business brekkies to go to, so he packed the lunches while I ran around the house trying to find just one of our many pairs of scissors to cut up the cellophane.

We got there eventually, the scissors were found, cards were written out, it stopped raining and there were just enough homemade goodies for all three teachers and Ces, the Walking Bus Legend.
I had made Rocky Road on Saturday, and Miss Fab (a.k.a. Princess) helped me bake Christmas Cookies on Sunday, so it's not like I wasn't prepared at all.

We were actually early for the Walking Bus! Dash was meant to wait until we got to school to give Ces his package... but of course he couldn't wait. Merry Christmas! he blurted and shoved the thing into Ces's hands. Ces was delighted and surprised: "I'll get fat!" he exclaimed.

As if! Ces is a local legend, a grandad and father of five. He tragically lost one of his kids to an accident and began volunteering to "drive" the walking bus every day, as a way to stay connected with children. He's one of those gruff old guys, he loves to tease and growl but the kids love him. Merry Christmas Ces, I hope it's a good one!

Here's Miss Fab delivering the goodies to her very appreciative teachers:

The kids found out their teachers for next year and got their school reports yesterday. Dash has a male teacher for the first time - a sporty Englishman - and he is buzzing! Can't wait for Year Three, he says.
Miss Fab's new teacher is an American from Florida - apparently she is lovely and very creative (yay!) so it is looking like a great year next year for my lot.

Here's a few words from their school reports, which made me feel rather proud...

Dash: "...is a caring, sensitive and energetic student. He works very hard across all curriculum areas and has made pleasing progress. It has been gratifying to see the curiosity and enthusiasm he puts into a topic..."

Miss Fab: "...has had a very positive start to school. She has many friends in the class and her social skills are one of her best assets... she is keen to learn new things and makes new children feel very welcome and is comforting toward them... well done on a great start to school!"

Yep, they do me proud. And now here's the recipe for Rocky Road before they come bursting in the door and the Summer Holidays begin...

Rocky Road

(adapted from the Desitute Gourmet, Parenting Magazine recipe)

• 1 x 375g packet of chocolate melts or buttons
• 2 Tablespoons of Kremelta (vegetable shortening)
• 1 1/2 cups of unsalted nuts, coarsely chopped*
• 180g marshmallows cut in chunks
• 1/3 cup glace cherries, halved
• 1/2 cup rice bubbles
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
• 1/2 packet of white chocolate buttons, melted, to decorate (optional)

* approx 3 x small 70g packets of nuts; I used one each of sliced almonds, cashews and hazelnuts

Melt the chocolate bits and Kremelta in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of boiling water; stir frequently until chocolate becomes liquid

Pour into a bowl of the cherries and nuts; add rice bubbles and coconut; lastly add the marshmallows.

Spread into a roasting pan lined with baking paper. Refrigerate until completely set; then drizzle white chocolate over the top if you like. (Allow white chocolate to set); cut roughly into squares.

This is the yummiest rocky road I've ever had. I added the rice bubbles and coconut to offset the sweetness which made it extra-delicious. The only thing I did a bit wrong was I should have used a smaller roasting pan so it would have been thicker. But still - not a bad first attempt... I think I'll have to make some more just for us!
xx

Christmassy in the City

Here's a glimpse of the lovely Christmassy family day we had on Saturday gone...

We caught the train into the City; Scrag loves trains. We admired the backs of buildings and "artistic" graffiti along the way; Scraggy smiled and called out "toot toot!". Other passengers smiled indulgently...

We disembarked at our flash shiny space-age train station (too bad the trains are old, single tracked and never come on time. But our central station is shiny!)

Walking up the Main Street we looked for Christmas cheer; Mr G decided to make our own and turned our stroll into a Top Secret Commando Mission. He and Dash patrolled Queen Street with their (umbrella) rifles at the ready. OK, totally un-PC but man it was funny. Watch out for bogies! Sniper at 6 o-clock! Good choice of L.P. (lookout point) son!

We refreshed the troops with coffee and muffins and continued our mission: to visit the Enchanted Forest on the top Floor of Smith and Caugheys. Our spies (a.k.a Meg) report that it's well worth a visit.

The giant Santa on the Whitcoulls building impressed the Scrag. "Ta-ta! Ta-ta!" he called, pointing excitedly. Passersby smiled indulgently...

The Smith & Caughey department store had these great windows... Mouseville at Christmas; animated puppets and Christmas scenes. Sooooo cool.

We stood there admiring the windows for a good long while... and then ventured to the 6th floor where the lift opened to reveal..... a mass of sweating bodies, irritable kids and weary parents who patiently waited in the one hour long queue.

Not us, baby. We turned right back around and figured we'd come back another day when the queue was shorter (the promise of an icecream sealed a peace treaty).

Back home on the train; watching for snipers and bogies and targets all the way of course. Mission accomplished - a feel-good family Christmas outing in the City... even if we turned back at the final hurdle.



Christmas Movie Night

At night-time big cousin Joel joined us for a Christmas Movie night. Joel is 14, an only child, and a lover of all things Christmassy. Even though he is a teenager, apparently he is not too cool to come and hang out with his little cousins on a Saturday night. Yay!

First things first: we added bling to the Christmas Decorations I made the kids out of leftover scraps of felt. The kids wrote their names (plus one for Scrag and cousin Joel) and I stitched over the top of their writing; then sewed the edges together with a contrasting colour embroidery thread and stuffed them with the guts of an old unravelled bear.

Some $2 packets of jewels applied with a hot gun (helped by Joel) and I think the result is pretty special. These will go into the kids' collections; a homemade decoration this year instead of a bought one. I love them.

We turned on the Christmas lights, put on our Santa hats and snuggled down to watch our favourite Christmas movie - Polar Express.

We love this movie, watch it every Christmas. It's got great graphics, a warm fuzzy story and stars Tom Hanks in umpteen different roles. Joel had never seen it before and I think he imagined he would have to suffer through something babyish and pretty lame. But he actually really enjoyed it (or else he's really really good at enthusiastic faking).

At Intermission we had Hot Chocolate (of course) served in our best cups by Mr G...

When it was dark we woke up sleepy Scrag and headed out to see all the Christmas lights at Franklin Rd. The whole street decorates their homes and they have coffee vendors, sausage sizzles, music... it all feels like one giant Christmas street party.

We just drove the length of the road with the windows down (hence the sucky photos). Next year I hope we will walk it, when Scrag's a bit older.

It was wonderful having our lovely cousin over to share our movie night. Having him with us made it all the more special and festive... So now I am feeling all warm and fuzzy and Christmas Spirit-y.

How about you?? What do you do to get into the Christmas Mood? What's your favourite Christmas movie??