Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

A couple weeks ago, Daddy was asked if he would like to be Santa Claus at church. He would be responsible for getting the costume beforehand, and then would be greeting all the attendees in the parking lot and giving out toys to all the kids during the service. Since he's already in the parking lot every week already, he decided it is definitely something he could handle.

I documented him getting ready, and waking Harper up to catch her reaction.

Now, I feel like I need to give my own personal opinion on Santa Claus, and why this whole thing was very ironic to me. I personally don't see the need for Santa Claus at church, and could definitely do without the whole thing. Especially since Harper's been born, I have really thought more about the kinds of traditions and beliefs we want to teach and pass on to her and I really believe there's a much more important reason for Christmas than presents and hoping the big man in the red suit thinks you've been good. I think it's fine if parents want to have some Christmas magic in their own traditions and have Santa be part of the spirit of their holidays. I just care not to. We'd much rather celebrate the birth of Jesus and family together time and not focus so much on the gifts and stress aspects that the holidays can bring.

But the pastors wanted to do something extra fun for the kids, and really make the church welcoming to the first-time visitors we were expected to have -- so Santa it was.

I documented him getting ready. He had gotten a pad to wear under the jacket, but ended up not wearing it since it really didn't look right once he put it on. Once he was all ready, he even let me make him cherry red cheeks and nose with some of my blush. :)

Jon did a great job and all the kids seemed to love him. He even freaked a few of the kids out by calling them by name - either because he actually knew their name or because it was on their back on their sticker. :) He had a lot of fun handing out all the toys too.

I videotaped Harper waking up from her nap that morning, but I'm having trouble getting it to load. We had one service at church, so it was later than usual and since Harper hadn't been feeling well all weekend, she went down for a very early nap. You'll hear her cough in the video - she is thankfully so much better now! - and I had also propped her up on a pillow in her crib for the first time in order to help her not get too stuffed up at night, which she really has seemed to love now. I just recently took out her bumper and mobile to kind of help get her eased into her big girl bed, which is not too far off now.