"Santa looks...different"

Aidan and I were looking at my old school photos the other day when we found this photo of me with Santa.

The cardboard frame indicates that the photo was taken at Halle's Department Store. A note in my mother's handwriting indicates that I was three years old when the photo was made, which would make the year 19mumble-mumble.

Aidan absolutely adores the photo - he giggled and giggled as he looked at it. After studying it for a few moments, he said "Mommy, you look really different!" I pointed out that I was even younger than he is now when the photo was made. Then he said, "And Santa looks different!" When I asked different how, he said that Santa just looks different.

Well, he does look different than Santas do now; how, exactly, I can't pinpoint. But Aidan is right, the Santa in the photo looks a bit different. I frantically thought for a few quick seconds and said "Well, it was a long time ago...and just like I look different than I do now because I am older, Santa looks different because he is older, too!"

He bought that explanation, thank goodness. It is getting harder and harder to stay one step ahead of that boy!

'Tis the season...

...for fun activities! Saturday was a busy day at our house. First, we went over to Aidan's school for Deck the Halls, the annual holiday event that raises money for the school and celebrates the season. Santa was available for photos (Aidan emphatically put the kibosh that idea), there was Santa's shop where children could shop for small gifts, a silent auction was held of the gift baskets and/or decorations created by each class, and the children performed songs in the cafeteria. The first graders sang at 10 am and although Aidan was initially not too thrilled, he finally got into the spirit and sang enthusiastically with his classmates:


That afternoon we headed back to Senaoia, the scene of last week's Porta-Potty Parade. One team of the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales were in town! Simply put, they are magnificent animals. Here is a photo of the first two horses in place:


Aidan got some help from Dad in seeing over the crowd:


While waiting for the entire team of eight to be hitched up and start parading, we talked with a nice family next to us who brought their three dogs. Aidan quickly became friends with Bruno, a seven year old black Lab/Boxer mix:


Finally, the team started their tour of downtown Senoia:


I was in awe at the size of their horse heinies: