Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 03-21Dec2014

So, for the seventh year in a row, I played for the line waiting to see Santa at the big Winter Wonderland that the city of Mission Viejo puts on. It's every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday in December up until Christmas, which made for nine nights this year.

The lady used to try and book church choirs and Girl Scout troops for some of the nights, but that was always a disaster, so she just lets me do them all now (except the one night that overlaps with her colleague's event, the Holly Trolley).

And as always, it's great fun. Kids are fun to play for, and excited kids even more so. A lot of them show up in their best Christmas outfits, because they'll be getting photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The setup allows the parents to stay in line, but let their kids come over to where I'm playing.

I've been bringing the "tambourine sticks" to let the kids play along, though at this age, none of them actually shake the sticks to the rhythm of the song. The downside to those is trying to keep track of them -- about one per night goes home with someone. Fortunately, they're really cheap.

Along with Santa, there's hot chocolate, cookie decorating, model trains to play with, and Christmas cartoons (with, I finally convinced them, the sound turned way down -- doesn't seem to bother the kids, though).

There are also some high school kids in Frosty and Rudolph costumes. They've been instructed to "high five" the kids instead of hugging, so they don't get knocked over. One little girl went over to Frosty and did the high-five, then excitedly shouted to her mom, way at the end of the line, "Mom! Their hands are *fluffy*!"