Full-on Jolly

We don't mess around when it comes to the Holidays -- I've been blarin' the Christmas music since Halloween. So, by now, less than a month from the big day, you can bet we are full-on Jolly. I love, love, love it. Last night, we marched in the Elf Parade, winding through downtown with gazillions of other little elves, all jingling bells. The parade finished in the plaza, and we sang carols, munched Christmas cookies, and snapped pictures in Santa's Sleigh.

Anna was dazzled by the sights -- and didn't realize that she was one of the delightful sights herself. We printed Elf ears and pinned them to her hat, then used the removeable fur cuffs and neckline from one of her sweaters. Her elf shoes are Elmo slippers with green felt smothering Elmo's laughter.

Anna was introduced to the character of Frosty last night -- I think for the first time. A little girl sang "Frosty the Snowman" -- at the top of her lungs and with the fervor of little orphan Annie singing "The sun will come out tomorrow" -- and then Frosty himself made his appearance in the crowd, literally leaning on the arm of one of Santa's city councilwomen helpers, either because he was wasted or because that huge snowball head kept him from walking upright on his own. Anna didn't care though, she was seeing all of this through the untainted wonderment of childhood innocence -- and the sugar high from the giant Christmas cookie they gave us at the Gingerbread house. She was crazy about Frosty and, of course, we had to hear "Frosty the Snowman" on the way home. Luckily, mommy has an impressive collection of well-worn Christmas CDs and was able to quickly locate the Dan Tyminski version on the '03 Acoustic Christmas CD. Crisis averted.

Anna already knew who Rudolf was though! I will not attempt to convey her raptures at being allowed to touch Rudolf's blinky nose. I haven't the room to do them justice.

Today, we walked through a nearby old historic downtown and visited one of the cutest toy and fudge shops ever -- Polkadots! There we had a chance to visit with Santa. First, Anna and Santa compared boots...

Then philosophically discussed the merits of age -- being three is a big deal!

Then she asked Santa for a new "Ariel the mermaid" doll. Anna thought it was important to mention that the last one was broken accidentally. Mommy butted in with the meddling truth: that Ariel's head accidentally got caught in Anna's teeth. Santa was dutifully horrified to hear of Ariel's beheading, but he composed himself enough to request that should he bring her a new one this year, perhaps she could go to the trouble of keeping her in one piece as long as possible. Poor Ariel. She thought she had left those scary sharks under the sea...

I better quit for now. Thanks for reading all the way through ;-)