Big Scary Santa

We had my family Christmas party on Saturday and my mom had arranged for her brother, who is at least 6'6", to show up at the party dressed as Santa and bring gifts for all the little kids and give them all a chance to sit on their lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. The kids all had such varied reactions to him it was pretty hilarious! First of all, Santa himself was a hoot. My uncle is an interesting character and I guess he was trying to talk in an old grandpa voice but the effect was kind of a wobbly, high pitched sound that didn't quite sound right, even to the kids. Then the beard/hair my mom gave him to wear was so slick that it kept slipping around and he couldn't keep his hat on and further it was so bushy that he couldn't even see properly through all his hair.
So he came walking in the front door and one of my 2 year old nephews walks straight up to him and says, "Are you big?" We all bust up at that but he's fearless. He sits on Santa's lap and proceeds to ask Santa what he wants for Christmas. After the first little guy is done, Santa asks in his high, wobbly voice if the other kids would like to sit on his lap and my other 2 year old nephew starts crying and shaking his head and runs to his mama. MC was watching all of this dubiously and quite unsure how she feels about the whole thing and it doesn't help when she sees other kids crying and running to mom. So she comes and sits next to me and asks me who it is. I tell her that it's Santa and she reminds me that she found out last year that we are Santa (mom/dad). So she tells me that it's Papa (my dad) but I point out my dad in the hall and that puts her a little over the edge and she starts to cry also. I whisper in her ear and tell her who he really is but tell her to keep it a secret. After that she's barely ok with going up to sit on his lap and talk to him, just long enough to say that she wants a dolly for Christmas and get her present from him, but she keeps her eyes straight ahead the entire time.
One of my older nieces who is notoriously shy (she's BR's age) surprises me by prancing up to him with a big grin on her face and sits on his lap for a while and tells him all about what she wants for Christmas (she however has known for several years the truth about Santa so it must have seemed like a big game to her).
BR didn't seem much affected by the whole thing, he was excited to get his gift and tell Santa what he wants but I couldn't tell what he thought about the whole thing till this afternoon when he brought it up again. He mused, "I wonder who that Santa really was at Grandma's house. MC looked at me with a twinkle in her eye...thrilled to be in on the secret.
All of this brought back memories of my childhood when we'd have a Santa come visit at some party or other...it always freaked me out a bit too.