Party Surprise

When we attended the Annual Ward Christmas Party at church last Friday, none of us knew it was going to be anything, extra-ordinary.

I was sitting at a table chatting when friends, waiting for it to start, when I saw a group of people approach Bryce, kinda sizing him up with their eyes as they approached. Now all week, the talk of Santa appearing at the party was a hot topic and I just knew (even though I was too far to hear) that it is what they were discussing with Bryce. And Bryce being Bryce, I also knew he would be up for it--without even a slight hesitation. It's just his kind of thing. Where as with me, my first thoughts would be, "What about my family? My poor wife serving up dinner with two kids all by herself?"

As they bolted for the door, I called after Bryce and gave him a,"what about us?" look. He knows me well and is luckily pretty smart because he then asked his group of people, "could we do it after we serve up dinner?" That question alone got Bryce back on the good husband list. :)

Apparently the suit runs alittle small and was just perfect to turn this man:

Into this:

Notice: the soccer shoes. My friend later told me that her little girl said, "Mom, that Santa couldn't have been from the North Pole because he had soccer shoes on". Pretty observant children. If we had known before arriving at the church that night, we could've planned better.

But the kids still loved him. Our Nursery calling sure came in handy enabling Santa to call alot of the kids by name, making him even more believeable.

Now in the past, Brycen had been absolutely terrified of the Santa man and made it clear that he had no intentions of sitting on this man's knee this year when I asked him if he wanted to, after Santa entered the room. However, after eyeing the candy canes (and the line had grown huge) he completely changed his mind.

So...we waited our turn, got to know our line neighbors extremely well, and finally got our chance.

It was probably a good thing we were one of the last to see him since after this family shot, it basically gave away who Santa was, but it was so fun.

And even though Santa spoke to Brycen just like Daddy always does, referring to Mommy as Mommy and Daddy as Daddy; Brycen must have been too caught up in the moment because he never caught on. Even after getting off his lap and giving other children a turn, I turned back to look at Santa and while pointing, said to Brycen, "Was that Daddy?" And Brycen's reply was, "Daddy, where?" Haha.

While we waited for Daddy to be done, Brycen refused to leave my side saying that he was scared of the "lion". It wasn't until later that I realized who the lion was...Santa and all his hair.Pretty cleaver conclusion for a little boy that never knew (understood) who Santa was, until now. Since the party, he has learned though.

And he now understands that Daddy was Santa, but it wasn't until a near terrifying experience when I was quickly leaving Brycen with Santa in the dressing room so Mommy could feed and change a screaming Cian, turned into a happy one because Santa took off his facial hair and hat and Brycen exclaimed (while giggling), "Daddy!"

Definitely a memorable night for us all. :)