Sports and Santa

Before we get to the latest Natalie news, we must give a brief mention to our past two weekends, both of which involved Gator football. The first weekend, when we went to the Florida/FSU game in Gainesville, was much more fun for me! Johnathan surprised me with tickets a couple of months ago and I was thrilled to see Tebow's last game at Florida Field. It turned out it would also be Bobby Bowden's last, too! Johnathan was a great sport and cheered for the Gators as we beat FSU again. The following weekend, he was back in his crimson and white as we attended the SEC championship in Atlanta. We had a good time prior to the game with many people commenting on our mixed-marriage status. The actual game wasn't even close. The Gators didn't show up to play and Alabama was more than ready to play. I had to go hide out down below during part of the game, which was where I got the picture with Reidel Anthony, who was a star Gator wide receiver when I was at UF. That might have been the highlight of my night! Meanwhile, Johnathan was elated to get the win and enjoyed celebrating with thousands of other 'Bama fans. I know he feels greatly outnumbered living here so it was nice to see him among his "kind." Congrats to the Tide. Go bring another NC home for the SEC!
Now, on to Natalie. She's been doing great at school and learning so much. Her teachers all say how pleasant and smart she is. When we drop her off, she's never too sad to see us go and is off playing with her classmates as soon as she walks in the door.
Natalie has been enjoying the holiday season. She likes to see the elaborate holiday lights displayed around town. We've been talking to her about Santa for the past few days to get her ready for yesterday, the day we were taking her to see him and sit on his lap. Saturday began very early for Natalie. She was up at 5 a.m., perhaps in anticipation of Santa. Johnathan went to work for a few hours and I took Natalie to the Y for their holiday "Breakfast with Santa" event. I saw several friends there, including Natalie's second family, Kelly, Eddie, Katie and Cloe. Natalie had fun running around and checking out the scene and dancing to the holiday music. She pretty much wanted nothing to do with me! But when it came time to sit on Santa's lap, she wasn't so sure she wanted to let me go. I was kind of surprised because she's never been afraid of mascots or people in costume, but she seemed leery of Santa and wouldn't let go of my shirt. So I ended up taking a seat next to Santa and Mrs. Claus and they snapped a picture of the four of us. I don't even think she was looking at the camera!
Perhaps because I am a glutton for punishment, I thought things might go better at the mall. The Santa at the mall looked more real, not like the one at the Y with the fake beard, so maybe she'd like him more. So off we went to the mall. Johnathan met us there a few minutes after I got into the very long line of kids and parents waiting for their turn to share their wish lists. Natalie was not into it! She didn't want to be held, but we couldn't really put her down and let her wander away (or jump into the fountain, which she seemed very interested in) so we tried to distract her with Chick-fil-A and goldfish. Eventually, her exhaustion caught up with her and she let Dada hold her. I could see her eyelids getting heavy and as soon as we were within maybe five people of seeing Santa, she was asleep. We looked at each other like "great, we finally get through this line and she's going to sleep through it all!" We woke her up, she cried, nodded off again - this happened a few times before we managed to get her awake and looking somewhat alert by making silly sounds and exxagerating excitement over Santa and the Christmas trees. Then it was Natalie's turn to see Santa. I tried to sit her on his lap. She clung to me and wouldn't let go. Great. I had to be in ANOTHER Santa picture with no makeup, wild hair and a non-holiday outfit. Only this time, I didn't have to go it alone. I made Johnathan get in the picture too. He also wasn't at his best, having been up since 5 a.m. and not having showered, but it worked out OK and the picture turned out fairly cute (maybe we can crop me out of it). I'll scan the picture tomorrow and post it. Hopefully Natalie will be a little more into Santa next year!