If you are a Jehovah's Witness, you probably shouldn't read this post

In this city, it is rare for anything to perplex or surprise us. NY makes its residents jaded to the bizarre, insane, and the seemingly unreal. My roommate has gone to work to find camels outside her office, my friend (Shruts) has gotten unexpectedly (and quite unwelcome-ly) kissed on the cheek by a homeless man and kicked in the knees on the street, and I, well I've written about and will continue to relay many a funny story in this blog.

I have a vague perplexing memory from last year, in which I witnessed a mass of people dressed in full Santa suit from the window of my cab. This did make me do a double take, but I assumed that it was some kind of Mall Santa convention, as these things do exist. Moment over, wonder gone, and on to another bizarre encounter of the day.

The thought didn't cross my mind again until this year, when I continually saw a friend's Facebook status posts (hey Lindsey! It's been a while, but yes, I have kept up with your life via this pathetic method :) ) regarding her excitement for "SantaCon" and her purchase of her Santa suit. My first thought: "Lindsey is a mall Santa?! WHAT!? OMG that's amazing and hysterical and awesome and...!"

Then, I finally came to understand the phenomenon that is SantaCon. Somehow, and so sadly, I missed this amazing event in the five years that I have lived in this city. It is a convention, (but more of a bar crawl) but a "non-religious and not-for-profit" convention of Santas and "Santa minions," which apparently occurs in NY and some other lucky major cities. It also occurs in Hoboken, as my new best friend informed me that he had begun his day at 10 am in Hoboken, moved to Brooklyn, and I met him in Manhattan.

I stopped by the event on Saturday and was amazed and delighted at what I experienced. My God, I love that this exists and cannot WAIT for next year's event. From the full-suited Kermit-as-Santa to the full-suited reindeer, to Christmas sweaters and the full-suited Grinch, to about 7 gazillion full-suited Santas, this was incredible. And! a great cause (people are supposed to bring one or two perishable food items!) And! a great excuse to drink during the day. If you like that sort of thing. A more grown up holiday dress-up day just like we used to have in kindergarten, plus booze.

I wish I could say that I got as dressed up as I would have liked to, but sadly I had to work that day and I couldn't find my Santa hat or Liv's antlers as I dashed out the door!!! I'm already planning my outfit for next year, though, so DON'T YOU WORRY and you know I will go ALL OUT. My grandma offered me both a sequined Santa hat and a Santa hat with attached beard. Guess which I'll be wearing...