Our two year old is terrified of Santa Claus.  I was expecting her to grow out of this fear this year just like her brother did at 18 mths.  However, whenever she see’s Santa, she gets a look of absolute terror on her face.

We’ve been to 3 Santa Christmas parties this year and each time she is completely terrified.  She will go up and get her gift as long as I carry her and I stay between her and Santa.  She will thank him, but that is basically all she is willing to do.  Even as I carry her to meet Santa, I can sense her terror.

It wasn’t until the last Christmas party we were at when I realized why she is so frightened.  At last year’s Christmas party, she was off playing when Santa burst in the room with a big “Ho Ho Ho!”.  As a one year old, she didn’t know where her mom & dad were in the room, there were tons of people she didn’t really know and a big, loud guy in a red suit, of course she’d panic.  She started running blindly & screaming.  She was at the opposite end of the room from me, so it took a minute to weave through the people to get to her, hold her and try to comfort her.

Scarred for life?  I’m not sure, but she definately is still quite scared and doesn’t want Santa to come to our home.