Time Flies

For years, my husband has played Santa.  It is one of his favorite things to do during the holiday season, and it brings him great joy.  When he was approached by our daughter's daycare, he was hesitant, but decided to go ahead with it and see if she figured out it was her father behind the artificial beard and red suit.

2013

2014

She never caught on.  And these will always be some of my favorite pictures....

This year, my husband was asked to be Santa for a local town's parade the day after Thanksgiving, and to do "Breakfast and Pictures with Santa" prior to his ride down main street on the fire truck.  The event is about 45 minutes from our home, and getting into character takes him at least half an hour.  He needs to arrive by 8 am, and probably won't be home until mid-afternoon.  As we tried to figure out the logistics of this - how and when and where he could change, particularly since some family friends wanted to meet all of us for lunch in the town where he'd be after the parade - he suggested maybe it was time to reveal the secret.

*sniffle*  So she now knows that her dad is one of "Santa's helpers" - because she's already accepted that not every Santa is the REAL one.  She's 7, and I think I was about that age when I started snooping around the house for hidden Christmas gifts, so I don't think we've ruined any magic...and yet.  It hurts a bit to let her in on such a "grown-up" secret...  (She isn't crying in the pic above - I just caught her mid-blink!  She wasn't sad, just a bit confused and over-whelmed, and she REALLY wants to tell all her friends.  We had her call her best friend's mom and talk about it, which helped.)

And since this is a stitching blog....progress on Santa's favorite drink.