Such a doll

Yesterday, we went to a party at a friend's house, and who should make an appearance but Santa? I had prepped Jack for seeing him by having him watch this cool personalized message from the North Pole. All the parents brought presents for Santa to hand out to the kids.

Now I'm sure it will come as no surprise to faithful readers of this blog that Tom and I aren't all that into perpetuating the Santa Myth with Jack, and in fact, we've never bought him a Christmas present before. He has a birthday less than two months before Christmas and he has enough relatives who give him gifts that he really doesn't need anything from us. However, I had been wanting Jack to have a baby girl doll as part of our prep for the arrival of his baby sister. When we'd see the dolls in the store, though, Jack would tell me he didn't want one. So I figured, this was the perfect opportunity for him to get the doll I wanted him to have. If he didn't like it (which I was sure he wouldn't), at least the gift came from Santa, not us.

When the time came for Santa to hand out all the presents, the children lined up one by one to receive them. When Jack's turn came, he ripped the package open before it was even out of Santa's hand. I was snapping pictures and couldn't see his face. I just noticed Santa kept looking to the side and saying something to my friend.


Afterward, my friend told me that Santa kept asking her, "Are you sure this is the right present for him?" I guess he thought the doll was too girly for a little boy.

My friend assured him it was. But Santa noticed the growing dismay on Jack's face.

"Really?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

Jack told Santa, "I don't want that present."

Then another friend of mine said to Jack, "Jack! It's a baby sister doll!"

A light bulb turned on over Santa's head. "Ohhhh."

Jack said, "I don't like the baby sister doll. I want another present." And then he went to the tree behind Santa to inspect the other packages underneath, none of which of course were for him.

The rest of the party was a lot of fun, though. Good food, good friends. What more could you ask for?

The next morning, Jack and I were talking about the party and meeting Santa. I asked him, "Jack, did you like the baby doll Santa brought you last night?"

"No," Jack said. "I just want my piggy doll and all my bear dolls." (His piggy doll is Piglet.)

I said, "Should the baby doll just be Mommy's doll so that we can practice for when your baby sister comes?"

"Yeah."

"What should we name the baby sister doll?" I asked.

Jack thought about it. I thought he was going to come up with "Skittle" or "Stridle" or some other of the nonsense names he's been favoring. But he surprised me.

"Clara," he said. "And MY baby can be Violet."