santa: worth the weight

liam and susanna have had the pleasure of seeing santa twice this year.  the first time was at the museum of history party last weekend:

and then, on sunday, we enjoyed our annual tradition of the santa brunch at our club. 

 while my fashionista daughter must have a dozen holiday-themed outfits, liam has, oh, one festive dress shirt.  you'd think the least i could do was iron the thing ...

i was standing far enough away to not quite hear what the kids were telling him -- but close enough to hear his big, booming, HO HO HO in response to something susanna said.  as we walked out to the car, i had to ask what was so funny as to make him laugh like a bowl full of jelly.

"i told him that i thought he had lost some weight," she replied.  "i told him that when i sat on his lap last week, he felt, um, plumper."

well, she's learned not to use the word "fat", i thought.  and i guess it's a good thing that the santas weren't reversed -- that could have been a problem ...

"anyway, i think he liked it," she continued.

"is that right?" i asked.  "how do you know?"

she beamed.  "well, he immediately said that i was on his Nice List FOR SURE!"