Santa-san

Today, Fox taught an adult class and talked about Christmas and introduced some Christmas music. He asked the class about Santa Claus. A few people didn't understand, so he drew a picture. "Oh!" They said, "Santa-san!" Meanwhile, at that exact time in the next town over, Cash was meeting Santa-san himself, in the form of a skinny Japanese man wearing a thin triangle of a white beard and a suit stuffed with bulky foam blocks. I had taken him to our baby group's Christmas party, where they turned off all of the lights in the room in anticipation and let this stranger (Santa) with a huge sack creep around a dark room with a bunch of very young kids and babies. Needless to say, all of the kids started crying, except the two American kids who were there, Cash and his 2 year old friend. We also decorated a felt Christmas tree, sangs Christmas songs in Japanese, and...listened to a corporate presentation on Soyjoy protein bars. Yes. After that, the moms and babies got stockings--For the moms, cookies! For the babies, origami paper and a rattle. We had a great time--I just wish I brought my camera with me! Maybe we will bump into Santa-san again, and I'll catch him on film!