owen gets elfed again!

but this time he's riding with santa and mrs. claus! today owen had the ride some kids just dream of-- he rode on santa's sleigh for the "silent sleigh" parade at csdr. we weren't sure how he'd react to going off in a carriage with a big guy in a red fuzzy suit and an enormous white beard but we pulled into the school parking lot just as the parade was queuing up and "papa santa" came up to the window and waved and owen shouted "there's santa mama!" and he felt right at home on mrs. claus' lap (just as sweet and lovely as his own nana ;) and then i slipped the elf hat on, put on some reindeer antlers and ran alongside the sleigh waving at all the little kids shouting "there's santa and a cute little elf!" it was awesome.
and this picture just went up on the carriage company blog-- owen is hiding behind his new "build a bear" cheetah named "blue bird"--but that's another story ;) that's molly the horse pulling the sleigh (not, i was corrected, an actual reindeer--but i assured owen that molly and rudolph were good friends). i'll keep my eye out for local coverage-- papa santa and nana mrs. claus were busy all day signing to the deaf children at csdr and there's nothing more amazing then seeing children light up when santa can sign!