About a week ago I took Zoë to a Christmas party at the school where my mother teaches. One of her fellow teachers agreed to dress up as Santa and distribute gifts to all the kids. It was a very nice party and Zoë was thrilled to see Santa up close and personal. You could tell she believed that was Santa Claus.
This past weekend we went to get our Christmas Tree at Jones Tree Farm in Shelton, CT. We cut our own and this year we got a really nice Douglas Fir. After we chose our tree we went to the gift shop area and guess who was there? Santa, of course. Zoë wanted to go see him, but when she got up to him she wouldn't even speak. I snapped this picture and as we walked away I asked her what was wrong.
"Mom, that's not Santa," she whispered. "He's not the same."
"Uh, well," I stammered and stalled for a few minutes until I came up with this one. "That's not the real Santa that we saw the other day. That's one of Santa's elves dressed up like Santa."
"An elf?" Zoë looked very disbelieving.
"Yes, elves help Santa with visits this time of year because there is so much to do getting ready for Christmas Eve."
After a bit more convincing and some help from Zoë's wonderful Aunt Brenda, she seemed to believe us. A little later we went back over to where Santa was and saw a little girl going up to see Santa. Zoë promptly announced, "That's not the real Santa!" I quickly hushed her and tried to explain that not everyone knew that.
I wonder how long it will be before she puts all the pieces together?
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