Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Toddler

Confession: I skipped my company’s Christmas party last week because my co-workers are, eh, okay as co-workers, but I don’t have much desire to socialize with them outside of the obligatory interaction at the office. However, I was very much looking forward to the Christmas party for Baby B’s daycare, which was held last night.

Last year’s Christmas party was held at the daycare center, but it was such a success that they moved it off-site this year to a local community center. With parents, siblings, and grandparents all invited, even the community center wasn’t quite big enough for the crowd we had! It was much better than last year’s cramped quarters, but they could definitely use a bigger venue next year.

Still, much fun was had by all. It was a potluck dinner, with guests providing drinks, sides, and dessert, and the daycare providing the meats. We found a spot to sit with a few of the other parents from Baby B’s class, though not much eating was going on because we were chatting and Baby B was being her usual picky self. It was good to catch up with some of these moms that I used to see at pickup, but for whatever reason, I don’t now. (My schedule hasn’t changed; theirs must have.)

After everyone had been through the food line, they began the entertainment portion of the evening, beginning with the toddler class. Each of the little one-year-olds was given a headband with reindeer antlers, and they had a dot of red paint put on their noses by their teacher, and then they all went to the front of the room and did their best to sing “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It was mild chaos, and absolutely fantastic! Some of them just stood there, some of them danced along, but somehow they managed to keep all eight or nine of them who attended (there are 12 in the class) at the front of the room the whole time. That in itself would have to be considered a major victory!

We received our handmade gifts from the kids, which included a Christmas ornament (with glitter, of course; I hate glitter) that has a picture of the three of us (which we provided), and a mini snow globe that has a picture of Baby B in a Santa hat (that they took at daycare) inside it. So cute!

Santa Claus attended the party, and as expected, she wanted nothing to do with him…until she saw that he was giving out a bag of toys. So she got close enough to him (in The Husband’s arms) to grab the bag, but wouldn’t entertain the idea of sitting on his lap. No surprise there, and we certainly didn’t force it.

The party didn’t end until Baby B’s normal bedtime, so she got to bed about an hour later than usual. She may be a bit grumpy today as a result, but that’s okay because we had a great time last night. I love that our daycare does this for us, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s shindig.