Santa maybe

We were at the mall on Saturday and came upon Santa and his receiving area. I was a little surprised, because I didn't think he started making his rounds before Thanksgiving, but there he was.

Or possibly one of his helper elves. He sure looked a lot like the real deal, though.

Julia cast a wary eye in his direction and proceeded to place herself behind a support pole so as to be out of his sightline. It seems that she has yet to outgrow her fear of the Jolly Old Elf.

Then again, maybe she's not really afraid of him any more -- it's more like the nerves you get when you encounter someone you're in awe of, like a sports hero or a movie star. She was downright bashful.

I tried to talk her out of it. The thing about Santa being at the mall godawfully early is that there was no line to see him, none at all at 11 a.m. on a Saturday. Miraculous! "Child," I said, "if you have any desire to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas, now is the time."

No dice. She was even perturbed when I said I wanted to wave at him. "No!" she cried as she hid behind me, back to the North Pole visitor, head buried.

Santa Claus, rock star for 5-year-olds.