Adorable.
There's a huge holiday lights display at the state park not too far from our house -- three solid miles of huge scenarios done up in lights, some in fields, some out on the water, some set back in the woods. There is an Elves' Village, a whole town of holiday bears, a section of nothing but penguins, a huge ice skating rink with skaters, etc etc etc. Arianna, once we described briefly to her where we were going, was convinced that this magical "lights display" must be the North Pole, and if we wer egoing to the North Pole, we would certainly get to meet Santa Claus! We tried as hard as we could to explain that, although this was a special Elven outpost, it was not, in fact, the North Pole (despite Siena chiming in "Santa my friend! I hug Santa, mommy!") and we would not have the chance to meet Santa Claus.
Once we actually arrived and made it through the long line of cars to pay our admission and begin touring the lights show, Arianna exclaimed to us, "No, mommy and daddy, NO. This IS the North Pole! I can feel it in my heart!" with the hugest eyes and the most rapt expression on her face. She didn't mind at all that we didn't meet Santa Claus -- just seeing all the beautifully done lights was enough of a wonder for her.
And this is what makes being a parent awesome -- having the chance to give, and to share, a moment of pure innocence and joy like that.
Once we actually arrived and made it through the long line of cars to pay our admission and begin touring the lights show, Arianna exclaimed to us, "No, mommy and daddy, NO. This IS the North Pole! I can feel it in my heart!" with the hugest eyes and the most rapt expression on her face. She didn't mind at all that we didn't meet Santa Claus -- just seeing all the beautifully done lights was enough of a wonder for her.
And this is what makes being a parent awesome -- having the chance to give, and to share, a moment of pure innocence and joy like that.