Alan, The Grinch

Today at the Baxter Holiday Party, Alan played The Grinch. He wore the costume his Dad wore last year. This year, some small people who had met The Grinch last year, were looking forward to seeing him again. But this year, Don had the part of The Conductor on The Polar Express. A small train pulled by a tractor made a loop around the parking lot. Kids had to go inside the party to get a ticket. Then, he would ask each one if he or she had been good this year.

For a couple of days, I have been talking with Alan that he is to play the Grinch as he was after his heart grew. He understood. I also discussed with him some topics he could talk to the children about. He could ask them if they had been good this year. He could ask what they wanted and then he started up some of his favorite conversational openers such as "Do you have any pets?" "What is your favorite food?" and thankfully, he didn't ask any adult who he or she voted for in this past election, politics being his favorite topic of all time. So, he put on all the costume except for the head/mask and we drove down to the building. We pulled into the parking lot and he pulled on the hot mask. After chatting at the train station and having his picture taken with a couple of kids, he went inside. We lingered near the tree, but we found he couldn't be too close to Santa because at least one child didn't want to see Santa and have her photo taken if she had to also see The Grinch. One adorable little red headed girl named Amber, shrieked last year when she saw The Grinch. Later, her mom took her up to my husband's office so she could see him in costume, but without the head, so she would know that it was a person in costume. This year, Amber is a year older. She has been talking about the Grinch and seeing the Grinch, now her favorite next to Santa, all year. By playing the role of the Grinch, Alan made her dream of having her photo taken with the Grinch this year come true. Alan has the Christmas spirit, don't you think?