This little girl sang the first verse solo, and she's only 5! Her voice was angelic.
The Spencinator who never believed in Santa wanted no part of this, but the girls were excited. So we stood in the long line of kids till it was our turn. Sweetie Pie and her friend weren't the least bit shy and were sure to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Sweetie Pie is only asking for two things (an American Girl Doll, and some Rainbow Magic Fairy Princess Books). I have it on good authority that she's getting both.
The Babes was so excited about Santa, jumping up and down and saying "see Santa, see Santa" while waiting in line. However once we got up and personal with the big guy, she wasn't so sure. This was as close as she'd get and even then she's looking suspiciously at him.
Santa handed the kids a candy cane that had "The Legend of the Candy Cane" attached to it.
In case you've never heard about this legend, it's a cute story of how the candy cane came to be a symbol at Christmas time. It's not really true (I'll explain that later) but it's a cute story and it gets the kids thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. There are a couple of versions and here's the version we had printed up:
A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would remind people of the true meaning of Christmas; so he made the candy cane to incorporate several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and the firmness of the promises of God.
The candy maker then shaped his cane into the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to the earth as Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down to reclaim the fallen lambs who, like sheep, have gone astray.
Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.
And according to snopes.com:
Candy canes were created long before there was an Indiana, probably in the later part of the 17th century.
The first candy canes were plain white. Red wasn't added until hundreds of years later, in the early part of the 20th century.
Just like Santa, the legend of the candy cane is charming folklore.
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great weekend!
Christa
