Visiting the Big Guy...

The Monday after Thanksgiving seems to be the best time for us to take the girls to see Santa.  I have found that the longer we wait, the busier the month gets and the harder (and more crowded) it seems to get.  So we usually take them after Ashton gets out of school and it is perfect...hardly any line at all!

Today, just as we had planned, we took the girls to see the BEST Santa ever (in our opinion anyway). This is the same Santa we have taken Ashton to since she was two and he is so awesome...especially when you have a kid that isn't all that sure about the Big Guy which is exactly what we have!

From the get go, Landry wasn't so sure about seeing Santa.  The three of us had been telling her all about how it works and how he is a nice guy and if you don't tell Santa what you would like him to bring you, then he won't know what you want.  She told me as I was getting her dressed, "Mommy, I will just stand behind you because I don't want to speak to him. Okay?"  Well, that just threw me for a loop...did my almost 3 year old just bust that out of her mouth?!

So in the car on the way there, the three of us once again talked it up and told her how it would be great. We even told them that if they cooperated, they might just get a special little treat afterward. Motivation works wonders with our girls! Well, that totally perked her up and she thought she might just do it.

Ashton was giddy as we were driving up. She has always LOVED Santa and has NEVER cried when visiting him. Landry on the other hand has cried EVERY SINGLE TIME! ARB couldn't wait to tell Santa that she would like him to bring her a "pink wide screen digital camera and a digital picture frame".  Landry really wanted to tell Santa that she would like purple drums but she wasn't so sure about actually getting close to him. In fact, she asked Ashton if she would just tell him for her.

 They don't allow personal cameras once you are in line so I didn't get any pictures of them in line...which is fine anyway because at this point we were still trying to convince Landry that talking to Santa was fun and not a bad thing. Thank goodness all the kids in front of us were older so none of them were crying to scare her off. There was also a baby that was too little to know any different so again to tears.  That was a good sign....or so we thought!

Once our turn came, Ashton darted over to Santa just like he was her BFF....Landry stood still and didn't budge a bit.  Mommy went over there, thinking she would follow.....nope.  Then Santa asked Daddy to come over there too hoping she would follow...nope.

So I picked her up and carried her over. She was literally shaking and turning away.  But Santa worked his magic. He gave her the coloring book first, and asked her what she wanted. She did tell him she wanted drums, but so softly that he couldn't hear and Big Sis had to "translate".  He found a picture of a drum in the coloring book and showed her. Then he asked her if she liked baby dolls...and she said yes so he showed her a picture of a baby doll. By this point she was not shaking anymore and was looking at him. He put his hands on Ashton's shoulders and told Landry he promised he wouldn't move them and he wouldn't touch her.  He just wanted her to come stand on the other side of Ashton so we could get a picture.

Finally she did stand there and she even smiled.  The picture was taken and Santa continued to work his magic. He talked to her and convinced her to give him a hi-5 and then eventually a hug. Poor Santa...he did all that work and the picture guy just stood there watching so he didn't get the picture of Landry hugging him. We were all bummed, including Santa himself!

Here is our 2010 picture with Santa....

All smiles and no tears!

{Ashton-8 and Landry-2.5)

So after we finished visiting Santa and as we were walking out, Landry asked where her drums were.  Poor girl was so confused. She thought that because she told Santa what she wanted, he was going to pull out her purple drums right then and there and give them to her.  We spent the rest of the evening explaining to her that Santa comes on Christmas Eve and delivers the presents.  That is a whole lotta abstract for a 2.5 year old to comprehend and that thought never crossed our minds!

After the Santa visit, we took some pics of the girls in front of the giant tree....

They had such fun running around the giant tree and dancing to the Christmas music that was blaring over the speakers. They were super excited that the Christmas Season had begun.

Oh and the little treat that we promised the girls...Daddy stopped and got them a slushy for the ride home.  It was the perfect afternoon. Santa told the girls he couldn't make any promises, but that he would do his best to bring them what they wanted if they made good choices!