Rockstar Reindeer!!

Dashing through the MUNI

On Dasher!  On Vixen!   Its SantaCon, so Bring it ON! 

It's official.  If you want to feel like a rockstar and experience what it must be like to be super-famous, there's just one thing you need to do.

Dress up like a Reindeer on SantaCon.

My regular blog-watchers will no doubt remember Santa Con from last year and a similar (if somewhat soggier!) experience!  So, no better way to start to get into the holiday spirit than to repeat the outing - and this time, there was double trouble!

Yep, 11am last Saturday morning, with the help of two home-made dog (reindeer?) tags and my partner-in-crazy, Lori, Dasher and Vixen made waves at Santa Con!  Fortunately, the weather was far more cooperative this year than it had been last year and it was an absolutely glorious day.  Clear blue skies, bright sunshine and not a rain cloud in sight!  

As last year, we took the MUNI to Union Square.  We didn't get stopped as much as last year for photos as we walked from Powell MUNI station to Union Square, so I wondered if the reindeer novelty of last year had been a one-off.

Um…no.  

Best Reindeer Buddies

As soon as we reached Union Square at around 11.10am, already thronging with flocks (?) of red suited Santas, Lori and I were completely mobbed!  It was so much fun to hear kids and adults shouting out "look!!  there are reindeer!!  It's Vixen and Dasher!"    And we got stopped quite literally hundreds of times and asked for pictures - one (fairly drunken) Santa clamped himself round my ankles, professing love for Rudolph - at first I thought it was a little kid, until I looked down and saw an inebriated twenty-something lying prostrate on the floor with his arms round my legs!  Needless to say, I shook him off pretty quickly after that - Rule One of Santa Con - no feeling up the reindeer!  

Eco-friendly reindeer sleigh

Other than that, most people seemed pretty well-behaved and not completely sh*tfaced.  As the weather was so much nicer than last year, I think the atmosphere was better and more relaxed and friendly, as people just hung out in Union Square, Santa-watching and making new friends.  As per last year, after about an hour of constant photo-ops, we managed to escape to the little cafe/wine bar down at one end of the Square to put our hooves up and enjoy an well-earned adult beverage.  Wearing a full length fleece suit with fleece head, feet and mitts in 65 degree weather is hot and thirsty work!   Alas, no Dante this year, but I did - bizarrely - get given a free bag of baby carrots by a bunch of Santas ahead of me in the queue.  How apropos.  So with free carrots and a glass of wine in hand, we sat and enjoyed the sunshine (heads off!)  - here are some of my pics from the 2013 SF Santa Con and the official write-up of the day's festivities! 

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Naughty-is-nice-as-SantaCon-invades-S-F-5065130.php

Who(Ville) that lady?

Photo shoot frenzy!

Scary hairy bear-y makes reindeer wary

Vixen Instagram-ing a selfie!!

Vixen making Mrs. Claus's day!

Political?  Santa Con?  Only in SF….

May The Christmas Force be with you

Vixen photobombs Elf!

Not entirely sure if this guy was in costume or not -
 got the sense this may have been a regular
Saturday morning outfit for this guy

Vixen-Lori taking a well-earned breather from the paparazzi!

Bah Humbug trouser guy with a large red
chimney on his head.  Not pictured: Miley Cyrus.

Grinchyness and Fat Santa

Festive high fives and high jinks

I don't think the dog was too impressed with his outfit.  

On line, behind the squirrel.
As you do.

Awesome.  The cashier getting into the Santa Con spirit!

The Santa Con Scene

Just chillin' with a cold glass of white and a
free bag of carrots

Heads-up!  Its Santa Con!

The Elf is No Longer On the Shelf but
possibly is Off His Rocker

It was all starting to get a bit weird.

Ta-da!  Proof that two heads are always better than one!

Hippie Roller Santa

Squirrel Santa making a run for it.  She was totally nuts.

It takes a special kind of guy to wear a
body stocking Santa suit.  Good job Squirrel Santa
 didn' see this guy's arse with her nuts or
he'dve been busy crackin'…..

Candy cane dame

After an hour or so of chilling out, catching up and just enjoying the weather and good company, our reindeer bellies were starting to grumble a bit, so it was time to recreate one of the classic photo ops from last year, the Menu Shot at Lori's Diner.  The reaction when we walked into the diner was classic   - the double-look, surprise and (almost universally) a smile.  So cool.   And - fortunately - this year, no  really cute kids wrapping themselves around me, so I was able to take my head off without fear of causing permanent mental scarring about disembodied reindeer.

The classic, recreated with Extra Lori.

After that, we did a quick whizz round Macy's just to check out the Holiday floor and see if there were any random kids singing this year.  Fortunately the coast was clear, so i didn't have to get my caroling on, but again, lots of people were very excited to see us, so we did our Rockstar Reindeer thang again for a bit, before agreeing we were knackered and it was time to hightail it home.  En route, we came across the fire truck that was collecting the toys and donations from all the Santas (fun AND for a good cause!), so we got a couple of bright red plastic fireman's helmets as reward for our donation.  And very natty they looked too, carefully perched between our antlers (an artful lodger, if you will).   So, with that, we took our final MUNI trip, navigating the turnstiles and the moving escalator without incident (easier said than done wearing a huge reindeer head and big foam reindeer booties!) and finally made it home.  

Another year, another Santa Con, another triumph!  Bring on 2014!  

Vixen practicing good road awareness.
No red nose required.

Where's Santa and his sleigh when you need a ride home? 

Winding our way home