The man in pink????

We're doing the rounds of Christmas parties at the moment and the fat guy in the red suit has made appearances at two in the last two days, much to the two big girls' delight.

(though sitting on his knee is a serious business!)

But before we get to that, let me tell you about the big 'Santa Suit Saga' that started on Thursday.

I made a Santa suit about nine years ago.

My husband insisted it be the real deal - lush red velvet and white faux fur trim, despite the heat of an Aussie summer.

And no cheap and straggly beard for him, no sir. A genuine theatrical wig and full beard - again not great for the heat but very nice to look at.

For the first seven years it was only my man who wore the suit as we had no kids so he was happy to dress up and and play the role for other family members.

Since the red coat has now been handed on to others, it was decided the suit (which was only ever worn about twice each year for about 30 minutes each time), was in need of a scrub up.

So I washed it.

And all the lovely fur trimmings turned PINK!

Yep, I looked in the machine on gentle cycle to see pink suds. I cried a little, then headed to Spotlight for more white fur and got out my trusty unpicker and started the task at hand.

It had to be ready for a Christmas party Saturday lunch.

It could only be worked on when the girls were napping or in bed for the night. (Mummy why do you have Santa's suit???)

There was fur on pants cuffs, hat edge, hat pom pom, coat centre, neck and bottom edge as well as sleeve cuffs.

I also had three tops to finish for our girls to wear.

There was swearing.

There was much appreciated assistance from the man of the house.
There was a little blood (damned sharp things those unpickers!)

There were two very late nights in a row.

But it got done.

And it looked great.

And the wonder in my girls' eyes when Santa arrived at the parties ringing his bell made it all worth it, every sleepless minute.