Grandpa T plays with many local music groups, and he also happens to play with this one Masonic group that has a historic, architecturally impressive building downtown. They have Halloween and Christmas parties for kids of their members every year, and as a member of the orchestra Grandpa T gets to bring Red Headed Cousin R (RHCR) and Monkey. Unfortunately, he spends most of the party playing music instead of playing with monkeys, but it is a good time for everyone.
Monkey has never sat on Santa's lap, or really even interacted with him before. The Zoo Keeper's philosophy on this is to wait until it's something that he wants to do and not to push it. Since Grandma T and RHCR were going to see Santa, Monkey went along for the ride. RHCR wanted to see Santa but was too afraid to sit on his lap. However, Santa thought that perhaps Monkey was brave enough to give it a try:Success!! He understands Santa but doesn't really get the concept of toys at Christmas yet, so he doesn't know what to say when people ask him what he wants Santa to bring him. So he didn't have much to say, but he sat and listened to Santa and found the entire experience very interesting.