The Howe family kicked off the holiday season last weekend with a trip to Zootastic Park to see the Christmas lights. We drove through the park with the windows down, holiday music playing on the radio, two excited boys (Tyler had a friend with him) in the back seat and a 21-month girl who kept pointing and saying, “What’s that?” Not quite the Rockwell Family but not the Griswold’s either!
Not only did we get to see the lights, but we also got our picture taken with Santa and his baby tiger cub and also visited the petting zoo. Tyler, being the inquisitive five-year-old that he is, had a question for Santa. “Where are your reindeer?” Without missing a beat, the jolly old man told my son and his friend that his reindeer were part of the magic of Christmas. In other words, he told them they were invisible. Santa’s helper quickly jumped in and told the boys to be on the lookout for the reindeer when they visited the rest of the zoo. “If you feel a little nudge, it is the reindeer,” she said. “Or if you trip for no reason, it may be because you just ran into a reindeer.”
Satisfied, Tyler and Hunter ran to the petting zoo. We were heading back to the car after feeding the animals when the inevitable happened. Molly fell flat on her face. Before we could even wipe the blood from her poor little mouth (she bit her lip when she went down) or count her teeth to make sure they were all there, both boys started yelling, “You ran into the reindeer Molly! Santa was right, the reindeer are here!”
Todd took Molly to the bathroom to clean her up while I watched the wide-eyed boys explain the situation to a somewhat confused Santa. I somehow managed to stop laughing just long enough to interpret their high-pitched explanation to Santa and reassure him that Molly was just fine. He winked at me and I thanked him.
The magic of Christmas and the innocence of childhood were alive and well in Troutman, North Carolina last Saturday night!
True confession of the night: I think it was Dancer that collided with Molly. If it were Rudolph, there would have been a flash of red light!
