As Christmas inches ever closer, the littlest Cooper is still quite suspicious of the man in the red suit.

Closing in on the ripe old age of 2, Anna is learning new words and phrases by the day, and her repertoire of things that just don’t seem right in her little mind grows alongside her vocabulary.

Anna’s first experience with the man in red occurred last year at the ripe old age of 10 months. That encounter happened at Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus. She was mostly just an innocent victim then.

That crime all occurred in a blur.

Waiting in line seemed fine, plenty of scenery, lots of other interesting looking people, then suddenly there he was.

In a flash, Mom spun Anna around, plopped her in Santa’s lap and began backing away. In an instant shock jolted through her tiny body. She couldn’t move, her mouth opened but no sound would come out — sheer terror.

The horror was over in a matter of seconds, just long enough to be memorialized with a camera.

The trauma of 2013 was a long forgotten infant memory for the toddler — at least until a few weeks ago.

You could almost see her tiny wheels turning as we started unboxing Christmas decorations.

“No,” she said flatly, putting up a hand to shun the tiny Santa ornament before her, as if she was some diminutive queen of the house, who could flick her hand and clear the room.

Despite Anna’s insistence that the red-suited one be banished, lo and behold the guy started popping up everywhere.

First he showed up at the Natchez Christmas parade. Bands, dance troupes, all were great until the end when Santa came cruising past.

“NO!” Anna said.

“Wave to him,” her mother coaxed.

No dice. The man deserved no such courtesy.

For days after the parade, Anna would demonstrate a disgusted face when asked if Santa was at the parade.

“No, yucky.”

Poor man.

He’s already forced to wear a thick, wooly suit; now a toddler ridicules him.

Days later, the Breakfast with Santa event at Jefferson Street United Methodist Church brought equal disgust when Anna spotted the guy perched on the stage.

A year later and with terror-filled eyes, Mom and Dad’s tender sides couldn’t stand the idea of repeating the previous year’s lap drop and dash.

Mom volunteered to venture a bit closer to the enemy with Anna in full-body clutch.

By the time the man in red was within arm’s reach Anna was reaching for help and choking Mom in the process.

No long-term harm done, but the guy’s reputation was not improving in Anna’s tiny mind.

Back at home a miniature version of the live, big Santa lived on the Christmas tree, but was not to be discussed or pointed out.

“No!” was the usual response.

Last weekend, while shopping downtown, the guy returned in various shapes and sizes, momentarily spoiling the fun at every turn.

Moreton’s Flowerland on Franklin Street was filled with intriguing sights for Anna in almost every nook and cranny — until he showed up, performing disgustingly cute flips and flops in the window. The entire corner of the store in which he lived was tainted for the rest of the trip.

On the other side of the store, Anna spotted something much more pleasing to her eye. There in a perfectly serene scene it was — a tiny baby, surrounded by sheep (who Anna pointed out say, “Baa”) and the baby’s “mommy” and “daddy” along three men who appeared to be offering gifts.

Commercialized Christmas will be front and center soon enough, but for now, I’m thrilled that she finds Santa disgusting and baby Jesus delightful.

Merry Christmas to each of you, and may your holidays be blessed.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.