Little Saint Nick

I swear, I am not stealing post titles from my sister -- it just so happens that our family celebrates St. Nick's Day and there really aren't many other song names that will work here. Plus besides to which and anyway, "Little Saint Nick" is one of my favorite modern Christmas songs, especially when it is performed by The Muppets.

Come on, sing with me in your best Animal impression: "RUN RUN REINDEER!" Gotta love Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, which is seriously one of the best band names EVAR.

(Incidentally, I believe I was 30 years old before I realized that "Little Saint Nick" is a song about a sleigh, and not about Santa himself. That was quite a revelation, let me tell you. Not sure why, exactly, but I remember being shocked and mortified that I was getting it wrong for all that time, like, "How could I be so smart and still be so stupid?" Little did I know at the time what I would be in for once I became a parent. Oy vey.)

Anyway ... you will notice if you look closely that there are actually a pair of Shae's shoes in there. They're kind of hard to see because her feet are still so weensy (and we even set out a pair of shoes that are still a bit too big), even if they're not as small as they once were. Evidently, she was a good girl -- she got quite a lot of swag. Most of it was Hello-Kitty-themed, because of the $1 section at Target. I figure those stickers are just going to end up on the cats anyway, so there is no point in paying a lot of money for them, you know?

We also went to a Christmas party where My Anonymous Mother works -- it was cute, mostly just a chance to get your picture taken with Santa. Of course, Shae wanted none of that mess -- she said in the car, "I don't like Santa and I don't want to sit in his lap." I figured last year that once she worked out that {Santa = presents} she'd be okay, but it looks like I forgot to include the Creep Factor in the equation. I mean, she understands how Santa works, in theory, and she says she wants to ask Santa for a "cramera," but ... I don't know, maybe she just wants to yell her wish list at him from across the room or something?

(I love how in this picture she is all, "Oh, hey there, Mr. Weird Old Dude In A Fake Beard, you have some lint on your jacket, let me get that for you but DON'T LOOK AT ME NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" You can see the general discomfort and vague terror in her face.)

She was very happy with the small gift and the the goody bag she got. She's becoming quite the pro at ripping packages open, too, although, she is very strangely neat about it. Tear off one strip, give it to Mommy to throw in the trash, lather, rinse, repeat.