A Very Scary Christmas

The Marion-Polk Medical Society had its annual family Holiday Party on Sunday at the Salem Riverfront Carousel. There were all the makings for the kids to have a good time - lots of sweets, hot chocolate and as many free rides on the carousel as the parents would allow. There was just one problem: the presence of a particularly menacing man, a guy that was striking fear into the hearts of youngsters far and near - Santa Claus!

We were with two other families; their 4 year old and 2 year old daughters wouldn't get within 50 ft. of Santa and they kept a watchful eye on him at all times, lest he should lunge out and start grabbing random children to sit on his lap.

But we had been prepping Megan for a week. We got out Santa books and let her run around with a Santa napkin holder. We've been telling Megan (in exaggerated enthusiastic tones) that she was going to get to sit on Santa's on lap, to which Megan would respond "and read a book," - that obviously being the only reason one would sit on someone's lap. And we talked about Santa's toys to the point that Megan was informing us that "Meggy play with Santa's toys."

When we walked in, Megan quickly spotted the guy in the red suit (with a real beard even) and announced,"There's Santa!" But that was the end of the excitement. Megan clung tightly to us at the very suggestion of sitting on his lap and tried top keep herself as far from him as possible when Mac took her over. But on the bright side, Mac got an opportunity to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, too.

Santa tries to bribe Megan with a bell.