Meeting Santa

Misha got to meet Santa this year, when he came to Lewis with two of his reindeer. Misha was so excited. I thought he would be a little too shy to go up and sit on Santa's lap, but he had no reservations. He went right up, told him he wanted a robot, and sat on his lap with a big grin for the photo. As he walked away, he told Daddy, "Now I'm going to get TWO robots - one from Grandma Kate, and one from Santa!" (I told him that Grandma and Santa are going to work together and get him one extra-cool robot, and he seemed ok with that.) He also liked watching the reindeer outside, even though they were in a cage. They were chomping on hay and eating snow.

We got a whole envelope full of little wrapped gifts with bows and ribbons and the works from Grandma Kate. Misha said they were from Santa, and we said, "But Grandma Kate sent them to you." Unphased, he reasoned, "Santa came to Grandma Kate's and gave her all the presents, and Grandma Kate gives them to me!"





We bought a little fake tree and decorated it with homemade ornaments that we made out of dough, baked, and painted. Misha loved the whole process, patiently painting with such concentration and being so careful to not dip his brush into more than one color at a time. I was very impressed.

Christmas music now fills our house almost all the time - Misha rushes to blast Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or Frosty the Snowman, or Jingle Bells, or We Wish You a Merry Christmas. He dances around the room and sings along to all the songs as best he can, making up the lyrics if he doesn't know them. He's quite a performer.

My parents took him out to Oakwood State Park for a drive and a walk a few weeks ago on a not-too-cold day. We walked around a little island/peninsula on a trail. Once Misha saw the trail, there was no stopping him. For some reason, whenever he sees a trail, his only instinct is to follow it as fast as he can. Grandma was not sure she was up for such a fast-paced walk, but I told her she was just lucky the trail made a loop! On the way, we saw deer tracks and turkey tracks in the snow and mud, and Grandpa had his binoculars to look for birds.