It’s been really funny to see how much of the whole Christmas thing Catie has absorbed this year. First of all, “snowman” is her new favorite word. And she has to scream “SNOWMAN!!” every time she spots one: at home, driving down the street (I’m talking lawn decor, we don’t have any snow here, so no real snowmen), in the grocery store, wherever. That was the first Christmas-oriented term she figured out, and it’s definitely her favorite.
To that end, I bought a DVD collection of old Christmas cartoons, and she is currently obsessed with Frosty the Snowman. Now, I love Frosty (the original 1969 Frosty, not that weird 90’s “Frosty Returns” thing with John Goodman – WTF was that about?), but I mainly bought this set for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Catie doesn’t care one bit about the claymation classic, she just wants Frosty. Over and over again. And I must say, I’m starting to lose my love for Frosty just a wee bit. Even though it’s awfully darn cute when she tries to sing “Hosty [her version of Frosty] the Snowman”.
She’s also learned to say reindeer (“da-deer!”) and Santa (“Tanta!”), and she’s very excited about the Christmas tree with its multi-colored lights (“bun-bows” is her word for rainbows). She even knows “candy cane,” although I’m not sure how she learned that one since she isn’t old enough to eat one yet. We do have candy canes on our Christmas tree, but still, I don’t recall making a point of teaching her the terminology.
And since her two favorite shows are the “Wonder Pets” and “My Friends Tigger and Pooh,” we’re watching the special Christmas episodes of both of those shows a lot. She gets very excited when the Wonder Pets save the baby reindeer, or when Tigger and Pooh meet Santa Claus. So it’s cool to see that it’s sinking in somewhat.
But as far as Santa Claus being the guy who brings presents at Christmas? Or any of the baby Jesus stuff? Yeah, I don’t think that’s on her radar at all. This afternoon, a clerk at Rite Aid asked her if Santa was going to come visit her, and Catie just looked puzzled. Then the clerk gave her a “ho-ho-ho!” which made her laugh, but I think it’s because she got it confused with Tigger’s “hoo-hoo-hoo!”
I imagine that next year, she’ll really understand all of the magical Santa Claus stuff, but this year she’s happy just to spot all of the various characters involved in Christmas wherever we go. And that’s fine, it’s pretty fun to see her get so excited about store decorations and things that I’d usually just breeze past without noticing. Although, I have a feeling she’s going to be really bummed when the pretty Christmas tree and its rainbow lights go away in a couple of weeks.
Our girls love Rudolph and Clarise. We have two stuffed animals named after those characters.