Ho Ho Ho…Who wouldn’t go?

Me: We are going to visit Santa! Yeah, won’t that be fun?
Ad: Yeah! Santa! Is Santa coming tonight?
Em: NO, Addie, we are going to see a Santa. But he isn’t the real Santa, just a guy helping Santa. Santa is very busy. Right, Mom?
Me: Mmm hmmm. (You have no idea, kid!)
Em: Mom? I think I am just going to give Santa my list, I don’t think I really want to sit on his lap. Is that okay?
Me: That is fine. I think Santa would like to visit with you, but if you don’t want to sit on his lap, that is fine.

I was totally expecting this. We are not usually a fan of Santa, well I am – but Em typically just likes to look at him from afar. She talks a big game, but when it comes down to it, usually it is “no dice.”

Addie didn’t seem to mind Santa her first year. She also thought Papa was Santa, and loved him, too. (Well, she still loves him, but she now knows that he is just a jolly ol’ man, who sometimes happens to wear red. She is smart like that.) Last year, she was a little unsure of St. Nick, and she wouldn’t sit on his lap, or even look at him.

Nevertheless, I got them all bundled up (well, we had to wear sweatshirts and hats – it was a chilly 50 degrees or so) and we trekked over to The Grove, which is an outdoor mall – and apparently the only place to shop in town. It was definitely the place to visit Santa. Who, by the way, had to take a break to feed the reindeer from 7-7:30. Don’t you think that Santa and his elves could have timed the feeding a little better? We are talking prime Santa knee-sitting time. But I digress.

While we were waiting for Santa to come back from his “break” we shopped a bit, watched the snow fall (fake, piped-in snow, it was kinda cool – no cold, no mess!), I saw Molly Shannon shopping with her little girl at PBK, and visited the American Girl Doll store.

And then all of a sudden, it was VERY important for Em to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him that she really wanted an AG doll. She was raring to go. Here they are still waiting…

It is finally our turn. I put Addie up on Santa’s one knee and J. put Em on the other, and we practically tripped over ourselves trying to get out of the way so we could get one decent shot before they started crying.

This is the shot the elves got –

Not too bad! They look a little bewildered and a little unsure, but no tantrums or hilarious making of those scary Santa photos that you see.

And a shot that J. got when Addie is telling Santa what she wants for Christmas. (A kitty.)

Mommy would like Santa to bring Addie better listening skills so she’ll stop falling off of things and hurting herself. Her Rudolph nose pictured here is courtesy of a jump off of the sofa. I watched the whole thing happen as I was in the middle of saying “Addie, stop jumping on the sofa!” for the 4,976 time that day. Yeah, I usually keep count til about 5,000 or so, and then, really, why bother?

So anyhow, I think the Santa trip was a success. For the first year ever there were no tears (from the girls or Mommy), we have photographic proof that they actually met the big man, and they each even got a cookie. A very messy cookie that Mommy found pieces of in her hair, later that night.

Oh, and when Santa asked Em what she wanted for Christmas, she got so nervous she forgot all about the AG doll and went back to her old stand-by, “a puppy alarm clock.”

Thank goodness Santa had already been reminded 4,999 times that that was what she wanted for Christmas. He has one tucked away, especially for her.