Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus, Right Down Seabird Lane

On Saturday, we hosted a Christmas Party for Katy's first Baby Group, the Pure Mamas (plus the Teos from Antenatal Class).

Katy was so excited all morning, getting more and more overtired, overexcited, and grumpy!!

Finally, the first guests arrived. And the kids started the party by decorating Christmas ornaments, organised by Maxine.
Then, once everyone had arrived, it was time for the main attraction...HO HO HO. David Shaw had volunteered to be Santa Claus, so he snuck up the stairs and got dressed, then rang his bell and came down the stairs. Katy has been very excited to see Santa Claus - and his promised presents and chocolate Santas. She's been asking about him all week. But she has also been a little nervous. Last year, she was quite freaked out about Santa.

Just before the guests arrived, Katy suddenly announced "let's cancel the Christmas Party". She had suddenly gotten cold feet about this Santa character coming to visit.

Well, when it was time for Santa to arrive, Katy got nervous again. I promised that I would hold onto her and we would go to Katy's room if she didn't like Santa Claus. But as it turned out, she was enraptured!

Unfortunately, most of the other kids were very nervous about Santa in the flesh. Olivia ran up, reached out as far as she could, snatched up her gift, and fled.
Pia had to be pressed to stay for a photo with Santa, and just gave him this "who is this strange man" look, not taking her eyes off him for a second, in case he did something naughty.
Jonathan was prevailed upon to give Santa a very reluctant high five, but at least he wasn't too scared of Santa, just not very enthusiastic to sit on his lap or any of those kinds of shenanigans!
Only Jonah
and Katy were comfortable with Santa and quite keen to sit on his lap.
Katy really loved it, actually!

And was very enthusiastic in helping Tia receive her gift from Santa.
Ironically, and most hilariously, the two little girls who were most terrified of Santa, were Lola and Imogen Shaw! Hmmm, maybe they needed their Dad there???
Of course, their Mummy Maxine wasn't afraid of Santa at all...
but the girls got even more upset after seeing their Mother cavorting shamelessly with the stranger in the red suit.

Regardless of fear or adoration, ALL the kids loved their chocolate Santa Clauses.
Then it was time for a tug-o-war with Santa.
Unfortunately, because most of the kids were petrified, only Katy, Jonah and Jonathan would play with Santa. And Katy wanted to be on Santa's side.
But, finally, after a hard-fought battle,
...the kids triumphed and fell the Big Man in Red.

Here we all are with Santa - Maxine, Lola and Imogen Shaw (minus David); Carmen, Gary and Jonathan Campbell (Katy's "twin); Liam, Grace, Pia and Thomas Bolger; Adeline, Ernie, Jonah and Matilda Teo; John, Debbie, Olivia and Sophie Hill; and us, the Krauels.
Then it was time for Santa to go...
Katy really loved Santa's visit. She did give his grey Converse sneakers a long hard look when we went outside...you could see some questions arising in her mind about why Santa was wearing grey sneakers and not big red boots. And she was mortified to find that Santa forgot his sack. All the children started chorusing "Santa forgot his bag, Santa forgot his bag". I had to promise to post it to him at the North Pole. But this was the concern for the whole weekend, about why Santa forgot his bag.

Later, when David rejoined us, Lola or Imogen asked "why does Daddy have the same shoes as Santa"?

Anyways, it was then on to turkey dinner. Everyone loved the Krauel stuffing. The parents actually got to have a lovely lunch together once we sent the kids up to the TV room to play.

Then the kids rejoined us for dessert - a beautiful Buche de Noelle that Debbie brought...
...as well as yummy mince pies from Maxine, and Christmas pudding from Carmen.

Imogen was very relieved to be reunited with Daddy after the whole Santa visit.
The Teos
John and Sophie
Maxine and Lola
Grace and Pia
Katy and Dada
The Krauels
After an exhausting day, Katy and Dada relaxed on the see saw outside with a glass of red.



We of course tried to get a photo of the kids together, as we have done ever since they were 1-3 months old. And, as usual, no luck. We got just the girls to sit together, But couldn't get them all smiling in the same direction.
It was wonderful to see Jonathan again. He was born the same day as Katy, and his Mummy Carmen was in the same Prenatal Exercise Class as me, so we were pregnant together, from about 4 months on.

Jonathan was apparently quite taken with Katy.