Sahanta

Last night, I went to a neighbor's house, as Santa, and visited with their three children -- one 5 1/2, one 4, and one 6 months.

I had wanted to do things like this for quite some time. Have to say that I was a little apprehensive -- I didn't expect problems, but I was worried that I would disappoint them. Hey, is this all we get for having you over? But it worked very well. The kids were stunned, and it took a while for them to find their voices. Even then, the oldest hardly spoke at all - the middle one did most of the talking. Nobody grabbed the beard (well, except for the baby, once -- they were about to take a photo of me and the two kids when the mother abruptly asked if I'd like to hold him - he looked up, saw this fluffy white thing right next to his hand), and I even got them to giggle a couple of times.

Later, the mother told me that after I left, they'd chattered a lot about how much they'd enjoyed it, so it was a good deal. Glad I did it. Given that I did Santa at EDS last week, I'm doing it at the hospital tomorrow, and again on Monday for the homeless kids' deal (which turns out to be more than I expected; they are having twenty more kids than anticipated) I think this was a nice difference. I'd do it again. Just got to figure out how to publicize it....