The First 2014 Appearance

Well, yesterday was this Santa's first appearance so it must be time for the first entry of 2014 in Santa's Diary. The second Saturday in November seems to have become Santa's kickoff!

Anyway, it was a busy day at Belk yesterday.  In three hours I visited with about a hundred children aged from - 1 month to about 70!  Now I know a word of explanation is in order here.  The -1 month was a lady whose baby girl is due next month and the 70ish was a young-at-heart clerk, both of whom sat on my lap.  It was wonderful how the whole staff at Belk really got into the spirit of the event!  I think I had every one of the ladies on my lap for a picture sometime during the afternoon.  There was also a group of ladies who were celebrating one of their birthdays and they needed their picture taken with Santa. The first young lady was someone I go to church with.   I think my favorite might have been the group of  little ones, all under 6 or so who made a group of 12 in front of me for their picture!

   The requests Santa got yesterday ran the usual gambit from baby dolls to dirt bikes but there were a few surprises, as there always are.  One little girl asked for an American Girl doll.  When I asked her which one, she said she wanted one that looked like her, "Oh, a real pretty one!"  I said, which drew a giggle.  There was a request for a Barbie also but I think the requests for American Girl dolls have been outnumbering the Barbie requests for the last couple of years! There were two brothers that wanted dirt bikes but the really fascinating thing was their sister wanted one too!  An entire family of racers!  I did remind them that they needed to be sure to wear their helmets!  A little boy wanted a turtle but when I was explaining that Mom and Dad had to agree on any live animal, since it usually falls to them to take care of, his Dad said , "I think he means a Ninja Turtle"  and that simplified things quite a bit.  Another little girl wanted a puppy and after I explained about Mom and Dad needing to sign off on it, she asked for a Hamster, which falls in the same category, so she decided she would like to have a stuffed kitty.  Legos were on one little fellow's list and there was one young lady who brought in a list on a printed form.  I remember that #8 was a tutu!  Finally there was one little girl who asked for "sheep, a lot of sheep!"  As I saw her Mother's eyes grow quite large, I explained that I thought she was referring to stuffed sheep, since we had been discussing the stuffed reindeer she was holding clutched to her chest!  Needless to say, Mom breathed a huge sigh of relief!
And that's the latest from Santa's lap.