My Saturday

This morning, I was Santa at a local hospital, where about 157 kids, more or less, sat on my lap over the course of about three hours, while we discussed the theory and practice of Christmas giving. Some were talkative, some terse; some had lists, others recited from memory, while still others had no clue about what they wanted. Some PS3s, some more Nintendos; multiple Bratz, Barbies, or Polly Pockets. The girls seemed to know better what they wanted than the boys, as a rule. None of the girls agreed to my offer of a GI Joe BattleStation; none of the boys liked the idea of the Barbie Dreamhouse (one boy actively recoiled at the idea) . Some brought their sibs, and one or two didn't want to be there at all. The oldest was about twelve; the youngest, barely a week old (and you can believe I handled him as gently and carefully as I possibly could -- there's something scary about a child that small, when your vision is obscured by wig overhang and fluffy beard). Only one attempt to pull down the beard, but three different very intruigued little faces peered up at me in their turn, each one not at all sure what this guy was all about. A couple of squirmers, a couple of criers. And one girl, about ten, with a big smile and bright eyes, looked at me very closely while we talked, and later she came back to talk to me some more. She was fascinated with Santa, I think, and she gave me not just one but two very big hugs before she left. It was awesome.

And this afternoon, I made moon pies. A challenging recipe -- the texture is quite different than the ones I'm used to buying, not to mention, the once or twice I've made them before -- these start with crisp cookies, while the others started with small circular chocolate cakes. (The cookies are actually worth having all by themselves, I think.) The marshmallow filling took two tries to make; the first burned, and I think I underdid the second while mixing it. And it was pretty messy, too -- I used about every small bowl and spatula I have, with drips of chocolate and marshmallow all over the place.

Still, I'm glad I did it. It was ... interesting.

And tomorrow -- burritos, one more time!