2023 - THE CHRISTMAS THAT CHARLOTTE "KNEW" SANTA CLAUS
The 2023 Christmas season started with a bit of trepidation and ended with "Ho ho ho"'s and belly rubs when the guy in the big red suit made an appearance. I'm fairly certain that Charlotte is not aware that for one magical night a year Santa travels around the world in a reindeer-pulled sleigh, lands on roofs and slides down chimneys, and leaves presents under the Christmas tree. But I do know that she knows the guy with a red hat, red suit, and white beard is someone special.
Why is everyone in Conshohocken walking up to Fayette Street and Mary Wood park? On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Santa arrives in town on a fire truck and lights the Conshohocken Christmas tree. No one is going to mistake the Conshohocken tree for Rockefeller's Center but that didn't stop the crowds from turning out. Hot chocolate. Chili. Soft pretzels. What a start to the Christmas season.
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I follow the Media Instagram page. I always enjoy heading down there for a breakfast or lunch to make an otherwise quiet weekend a bit more interesting. Compared to the other Philadelphian suburb county seats, Media has a major feature the others lack - a trolley that runs through the center of town. It's a defining feature. I saw a "Meet Santa on the Trolley" event pop up on Instagram and reserved our tickets a few minutes later. Media. Santa. Trolley. That's a holiday trifecta!
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There was a lot for Charlotte to digest. When Santa hop aboard the trolley, we made sure to introduce ourselves like old family friends. It took a little while for Charlotte to warm up to Santa and her curiosity got the better of her. Everyone was enjoying meeting this jolly guy in the red suit. The event was as much, if not more, about watching Charlotte's reaction to Santa - the changing expression she made as she evaluated why everyone was excited to see and fixated on this one passenger.
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This was a spectacular event. There was a limited amount of families on the trolley. Each had plenty of time to spend with Santa Claus. No rush from the beginning to the end. A well-run event. It was a great Santa Claus who looked the part, had an amazing uniform, and great disposition. You it was a special event from the start and we hadn't even left the trolley when we were already discussing that we'd need to return next year and how this would be a great new family tradition. I'll be glued to the Media Instagram account beginning next Thanksgiving.
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A ton of photos. They were all great photos. A few more.
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On a Friday night we went to St. Paul's, Lola and Papa's church for crafts, a pizza dinner, and another meeting with Santa. Followed by a pajama party and Christmas movie watching. What Dad remembers most from this event was how excited Charlotte got for the abominable snowman in the classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie. She roared each time he made an appearance. At this event it was clear that Charlotte was cognizant of who Santa was, still curious vs. excited but not afraid to approach him and have her photo taken.
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And one more Santa visit. This time a breakfast with Santa at the Plymouth Fire Hall. This time it was safe to say that Charlotte knew who Santa was. When Santa took a break, Charlotte was on the lookout awaiting his return. She even went up and approach Santa on her own without needing mom or dad to hold her hand. Also the best Santa Claus chair.
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We didn't make it to many Christmas/winter festivals or markets or other non-Santa Claus related events this year. Dad always enjoys a swing over to Roxborough and Manayunk so that was the one Christmas event we made it to this year. Both neighborhoods were decked out for the holidays. We finally had a meal at New Ridge Brewing and picked up some coffee beans at the Christmas market.
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Charlotte served as the official chocolate chip cookie taste tester. Judging by that face I'm not sure how Santa would like the cookies. Dad also made a giant size cookie too.
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The big day finally arrived. The Target shopping cart was a big hit. Charlotte can finally push groceries around like dad. Charlotte wanted to put her Cabbage Patch doll in the shopping cart similar to how she rides when she's at Target with dad. Other gifts included Duplos, a toy plane, a giant lion, a few kitchen accessories, and snow pants, which came in very handy in the weeks ahead.
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A few more gifts to open at Lola and Papa's with some train conducting afterwards.
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2022 - CHARLOTTE'S FIRST CHRISTMAS
This year the special time of year was a bit "specialer". Charlotte's first Christmas was near the eleven-month mark which made Charlotte feel like a participant rather than just an observer. Rather than being a quasi-prop that's just hanging as you open presents, Charlotte was the center of attention throughout the holiday period. The focus of the holiday season was on her reaction to the first time Christmas events. Like visiting Santa. Which went as expected. I believe that Charlotte started crying as soon as we put her in Santa's lap. Meanwhile, Annie knew to strike a perfect pose for the family photo.
In Charlotte's defense, this was Santa Paws, not Clause, so there's still hope that when she meets the official big guy next year that maybe, just maybe, we can get a smile. Even Annie was a bit nervous once Joyce and I left the group shot to take photos of our own. Annie did wind up getting a bunch of treats from Santa Paws. A pet bakery in Manayunk hosts this annual event and I always get a thrill out of seeing Annie pose with Santa Paws. Next year maybe she can teach Charlotte how to remain composed.
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Five sets of eyes (me, Joyce, mom, dad, and Pete) were on Charlotte for Christmas morning. She was the center of attention and seemed more interested in playing with her existing toys, shoelaces, and bows than unwrapping presents. After unwrapping I think she liked the sound of the wrapping paper in her fingers then the present that had been revealed.
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I expect the pace at which Christmas presents are unwrapped to pick up next year. A good thing we only had a few gifts as we could have been here all day.
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I will say that Charlotte seemed to recognize her first gift, a Moana doll. She's taken a liking to the Moana music videos, perhaps because Joyce looks like Moana, and claps along when we play the videos on YouTube.
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Here she is opening presents with Joyce and testing out her Maserati power wheel from Lola Asares. The power wheel comes with a remote control so that mom and dad can drive her from behind. We hope to get a lot of miles out of this gift next spring through fall.
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After waking up from her morning nap, Charlotte was off to Lola and Papa's house for Phase II of unwrapping Christmas presents. Tito Pete brought Thai specific gifts including a Thai barbie and elephant pants with him from Bangkok.
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Bucks Country Gardens had a reindeer exhibit set up in the back of the store. Charlotte seemed unimpressed.
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We picked up our first family Christmas tree at the Conshohocken Library. The beauty of picking up a tree here is that you give them the stand, the attach the stand, throw the tree in the back of a truck, deliver the tree to your house, carry the tree inside, and place it on the ground for you (there's a tip involved but still what a relief to not need to deal with all that hassle). All you need to do is cut the wrapping and decorate the tree.
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Lola wrapped twenty-five Christmas books so that Charlotte had an advent calendar of books. Some were a bit more age appropriate than others. Charlotte and I enjoyed the Corduroy Bear books, Llama Llama Red Pajama, and other classics.
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One of the underrated parts of Charlotte's first Christmas is that we didn't need to worry about hiding the gifts. I put together Charlotte's cozy coupe in advance, in plain sight of her. If only it will be this easy next year, although the cozy coupe's top was a bit of a mess to install - call it a passage through adulthood.
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Charlotte even tested out the wheel - a much better helper than Annie.