Santa Stare Down

Most kids cry when they see Santa for the first time, I know I did. I recall my first encounter to this day. I was 3 yrs old at a Christmas party for my dads work. I vividly remember being almost intimidated at the idea of rubbing elbows with the legendary guy in red. I remember thinking, "Not only do I get a candy cane, but he is going to listen to me tell him all about how I have been so good this year I walked up to Santa and...yadda yadda yadda...I cried buckets in his lap held out my hands and begged my mom to take me away from this weirdo.

Well this year was Ian's first Christmas and we were attending out Ward Christmas party where Santa was set up in the Relief Society room to meet the kiddies for a half hr before dinner started. My friend Jen gave me the full report of how her 12 month daughter Hailey, screamed and cried when placed on the Strangers lap. As we took the walk down the hallway which led to the "North Pole" we joked about how Ian would scream and get just as hysterical as Hailey. When we entered the room we took our place behind a father who was coaxing his 17yr old daughter to hop aboard old Santa's lap but she refused, so we were up. Tyler whipped out the Camera to capture the tears and I did the honors of handing off Ian to St. Nick. To our surprise, Ian just stared at Santa not for like a 30 seconds but for 5 whole minutes he wouldn't take his eyes off him. Even Santa seemed a little surprised when the tears didn't flow. While all this was happening our camera freaking broke. Luckily Jen had hers ready so she snapped some shots as we laughed our heads off.

Curiosity may have beet the Santa Blues this year but next year, I might bet Ian could have a whole different reaction.