Saturday, Dec 10

It was another busy day at Santaland.  Shortcake was late - again - by 3 minutes - thanks, MTA.  And she was tired (getting up at 5am does that) and hungry (she skipped breakfast for stupid reasons) and a little cranky.  And then she watched Santa's first visit.  It was an adorable 2 year old, the age when kids usually cry when they see Santa.  This boy was so excited and kept shaking his letter up and down.  He went right to Santa, and his mom and dad stood off to the side, hugging, and then they all sat by Santa for family photo.  Santa told the kids that "Santa loves you just the way you are," at which point Shortcake's tears welled up and she went into the hallway to pull herself together.  

Today was Santacon.  You know, the horrible, terrible tradition of a city-wide bar crawl of people dressed like Santa and elves and presents and trees.  It's drunk people wandering the streets in costume, and it's obnoxious and detestable and no one in Santaland likes it.  No one in Manhattan really likes it either.  It got kicked into Brooklyn.

The Village is moving slower than usual this year, so Shortcake spent some time investigating what was happening.  She reminded Santa and the elves that the house needs to move as a cohesive team, develop a flow, and also to limit the personal cell phone photos.

Shortcake and Blissful had some excellent teamwork today.  It was super fun to make it happen, and all the elves enjoyed it too.

Krampus stopped by!  He wandered into the Santa room, walked right past Shortcake, said hi to the guys, and walked right back out.  Shortcake totally called him on the drive-by visit, and then he gave her a hug.  He's coming back tomorrow for a proper visit.

Mr. Claus went on an event today.  The line was long, per usual, so he went down stairwell I to the car on 35th street.  It was actually a fairly painless, hassle-free way to get Santa down to the car.  AND here's a pretty picture of the stairwell.

Macy's.  They even have pretty stairwells and grates.

Because Mr. Claus was at an event, and due to many scheduling conflicts, he was unable to see people in the land at the same time.  Physics is a jealous mistress, and while Santa can taunt her and overrule her on Christmas Eve, there are rules and laws to be followed the rest of the year.  If people came to see him while he was unavailable, Shortcake and Blissful gave special star buttons to them and said if they came back later that day and presented the button, they would be given express VIP access.  Most people were understanding, but one woman was very upset and yelled at Blissful.

Oh!  Shortcake's cousins came to visit Santa!  Look at these attractive people!

Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  And Willie came to visit Santa!  He's not allowed to visit alone, so he brought a friend.  Both of them brought musical instruments.  And they wanted Felix Navidad to be in the photo.

This is Shortcake's favoritest photo of Willie and Santa.  Ever.  This may in fact be Shortcake's favoritest photo ever.

So many details are so amazing. Just... Look at it.  And enjoy.