Back outside, we trekked over to the reindeer. There were three of them, but I think two of them were antlerless (Mrs. Claus later said that was due to some "infighting" among the reindeer crowd). Miss Mouse really liked them, too. Although I think reindeer are supposed to be fairly shy, these guys/girls were really quite friendly and came right up to the fence to sniff at their visitors.
Next stop - Santa and Mrs. Claus's house! I had dressed the Mouse in her snowboots for warmth but was carrying along her fancy, black church shoes for her Santa picture (which, by the way, one takes on their own camera - eliminating the need for 'copyright' buying!). I had planned to dress her in a cute pant-outfit, but she insisted (peese! peese!) on wearing a dress with tights! What a Mouse! Anyway, we unbundled the Mouse, changed her shoes, and I unpacked the camera while Daddy and Miss Mouse signed Santa's guestbook. The house smelled like caramel rolls and was decorated for Christmas just beautifully. It was definitely a place I could have spent some serious time just sitting and sniffing and admiring decorations! We were directed over to a parlor-type area where Santa was sitting in a red shirt and overalls. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. I'm so excited to think my girl will grow up thinking of Santa in bibs!
All afternoon we had been "preparing" for our Santa visit. I had explained that Santa might be loud, but that he is very nice. So, Miss Mouse had repeated, all the way down to the Santa Village (it's on the south end of town), "loud" and "niiiiiice". I figured we were as prepared as we could be. I had also told her he would be wearing red and would have a beard. Everything turned out to be true except the loud part. Santa was very nice and mild-mannered and just leaned down and talked in a normal voice to the Mouse. She was not about to sit on his lap, however. The lower lip quivered, and she made a dash away from him muttering "nooo, nooo, nooo". We convinced her that it would be fun for all of us to sit with Santa and have our picture taken (the elf volunteered her services). As you can see in the picture, she still wasn't terribly thrilled, but she did acquiesce. I had visions of a screaming, terrified Mouse, so a serious one pretty much equated with success in my mind for a first Santa visit!
Santa asked what she would like for Christmas, but she just looked at him. He asked if she liked dolls, so she said, "yes" and answered affirmatively that she would like a doll, maybe Barbie or Dora (I didn't mention to Santa that she doesn't know who either of those are....). After getting her ribbon, which apparently kids collect from year to year, we meandered off to the kitchen to decorate a cookie with Mrs. Claus. The Mouse wandered into the kitchen still thinking of dolls, apparently, saying "baby, baby".
Mrs. Claus was very nice, as well, and Miss Mouse did a nice job of decorating her cookie. She was allowed to have one bite on the way home (Daddy and I split the rest - it was a small cookie) and seemed pleased with her work (it was prettier than it was tasty). I talked to Mrs. Claus about the breakfast with Santa opportunity and found out it is actually really reasonably-priced, so we'll hopefully try to do that next year. Even if that doesn't work out, I think this Santa Village will be a yearly tradition. It was so neat, and calm, and full of things to do! We skipped the ornament-making, mainly because I knew my crockpot meal was heading into the "very done" category at home and that the Mouse would be getting hungry. On the way out of the farm, we had to stop one more time and look at the reindeer (both Daddy and Miss Mouse insisted). Daddy had a good time explaining that they can fly like airplanes but only on one night each year.....then he had a great time reading her the explanation of what a reindeer is that was posted in the reindeer barn (used in Northern Scandinavia for years as livestock for transportation, use of their antler-sheds, and meat). As we left, we closed with the explanation of them getting to fly like airplanes once a year. :)
Another sidenote: She's never seen a traditional Christmas program, and it is hard to say when she will ever see one put on by children. But, she's been playing with blankets and wrapping them around her like shawls......perhaps an inborn characteristic in little girls to want to "play Mary in the Christmas program"? I don't know where she got the idea, but it's been pretty funny.
Another sidenote: I found a newspaper the other day that I had apparently saved since last Christmas under a pile of scrapbooks. I could not figure out why I had saved it. It didn't appear to have any items of interest to me, so I thought maybe it just got shoved under the books and forgotten when I took recycling out last Christmas (it was from last year at this time). The other day, I decided to take one more look at it before I threw it out, and I realized why I had saved it. It was an insert from my hometown paper (the Divide County Journal), and it had an article written by an older woman from my home community (sort of - out there, within 45 miles constitutes "home community"). It was entitled "Believe in Santa? You bet I do!" I don't know how old she is now, but she was 6 years old in the Depression when her family moved from Alkabo to the West Coast, using all their savings to invest in a grocery store business out there. Things in Alkabo were bad, and her parents were hoping a new start would be the answer. The little girl was very homesick and was praying every night that they could move back "home" to Alkabo; no doubt her parents knew her thoughts, feelings, and prayers but couldn't do anything about them. They had moved a little before Christmas, so when she would ask her parents what they thought Santa would get her for Christmas, they answered that Santa probably would not know where to find her this year. She assured them that Santa knew everything and would find her for sure. Youch. Well, Christmas came closer and closer with her insisting that Santa would find them. Unbeknownst to her, her parents had no extra money to buy any presents and were dreading Christmas morning to have to explain that, indeed, Santa had lost track of her and her brother that year. Christmas morning came, and under the tree were: one present for her, one for her brother, and one for both of them. She remembered not being terribly surprised that the presents were there - after all, Santa knows when kids move! She and her brother were overjoyed to share a pair of skates; I don't remember what the other presents were, but that year, Santa had taken the form of a family back in Alkabo that sent two presents for the kids and a colleague of her father's at their new business who had given him the pair of skates in appreciation for some after-hours work he had done (cutting meat or something). I thought she said it just as well as the editor who wrote that 'yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus'. That is Santa Claus, the true, real Santa who will exist no matter a person's age. That is the Santa that is totally compatible with the celebration of the birth of Christ. And that is why Miss Mouse met him last night.
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