Spoiler Alert-Santa reality discussion. Hide the kids

Would you ever book a christening, a confirmation and a graduation party all on the same day? Of course not. That's insanity. Well, that's what we did at the Glove Theatre on Saturday. Not christening, confirmation and graduation, but Farmer's Market from 9-1, Children's Christmas Show and party from 2-4 and Evening Christmas show from 7-9; all requiring the full participation and work of the Glove Theatre's extraordinary volunteers. Without them, this whole house of cards would have fallen. It did not fall, but we did. By 9:45 when it was all over, and we had all been on our feet and working hard for 14 or so hours, we crashed. We had approximately 285 kids pass through the theatre at 2 PM, all there to see the guy in the red suit, who happened to be my favorite guy in the red suit as well. I have never seens such a great Santa Clause-truly. He was fun with the older kids, and paternal and gentle with the little ones. I was busy painting the faces of all 285 participants, one at a time. Someone had told the little cherubs that they must sneeze on the face painter as soon as they sat down, and that is what they did. Thanks kids. I woke up Sunday morning with what felt like golf balls in my throat. Allison made sure I was aware that it takes two weeks for germs to germinate into a cold, however I prefer to blame the little kids. It feels better. But I digress. . . Santa was amazing in his jolliness and his patience. His suit was a beautiful burgundy velvet from the costume shop across the street. He looked fantastic! The beard and hair were not the cheesy costume shop type, but the real Santa stuff. He looked fantastic, and each and every child who went to talk to him was left with a good feeling and the assurance that yes, there is a Santa Claus. As we were face painting across the theatre (these activities were going on simultaneously) we only heard two children in the process of a Santa freak-out. 285 kids and two freak-outs? Not bad. I was impressed. The freak-outs were particularly funny, as they started slow and got louder and more panicked the closer they were brought to the big guy. Not happening. So, they moved on to the cookie decorating, face painting, and other such activities, one of which was completing a Christmas Card to the wounded soldiers at Walter Reed hospital. It was nice to hear the kids making comments about the soldiers, how brave they are, who has a brother/cousin/neighbor in the army, etc. If you are not feeling the holiday spirit, I recommend attending a children's party somewhere. It makes your heart hurt to hear the innocence and trust in these little voices. They believe. I asked each of the kids (after they sat down and sneezed on me) what they had asked for from Santa, and most of the requests were rather minimal. Matchbox cars, video games and a doll or two. Not alot really. Watching TV could lead you to believe that every kid wants all the crap that they are showing us. Not so. A few asked for snow shoes and mittens. I was amazed. And renewed. After working at the kids party all day, we then moved on to the evening show, which was presented by a local vocal group of young people. Ages from 4 to 25. It was a beautiful concert of laughs, christmas carols and a sing a long. Packing up at 9 PM, we realized it had snowed all day and we had a good four plus inches on the ground. Driving up the mountain to our house, we passed through our own Winter Wonderland. Seeing all the trees covered and the plowed roads and the christmas lights along the way was just beautiful. When we got home, we heard from Allison who had attended her own Winter Wonderland dance and was checking in from the slumber party afterwards. All in all, a special holiday weekend. If anyone ever says "let's book three events in one day" the answer will be a resounding "are you crazy?" But now that it's behind me, I can say it was a total success. Someday I will tell you the "Santa has had enough" story, right now it's a little too fresh. We need to let Santa get over it a bit. . . But let me say this-he's as good a sport as I've always believed he was. Who knew?