Santa With the Cousins

One of the things we wanted to make sure we did while Auntie Megan and the boys were here was take all four kids to visit Santa. We always go pretty early after Thanksgiving  before the lines get long, and so Santa can be sure and get the girls' requests in plenty of time.

We love that we have been able to visit the same Santa since we moved back to Texas when Ashton was two. We have followed him from the mall in Frisco out to Allen, and this year we followed him to his new spot which was inside a book store.

It was fun adding Parker and Chase into the Santa visit this year. We were hoping that having Parker there would help Landry's visit go smoothly since last year she wanted nothing to do with him. Last year we managed to have her stand near-ish to Santa, but she would not tell him what she wanted. We had to have Ashton do the talking and as a result, LP didn't get exactly what she asked for (that is what we told her anyway). We used that as a way of trying to get her to actually talk to him. We told her that if she didn't tell Santa what she wanted, he wouldn't know and she might not get exactly what she wanted. We thought we had given her enough pep talks that she would do just fine.

Well, we walked in and she flipped out because she said he wasn't THE Santa. What?! This is the same Santa we have been coming to see since Ashton was 2. How is he not THE Santa? Daddy had to take her away  to get her calmed down. After being gone for a few minutes and while Parker and Chase were having their turn, Landry and Daddy came back ready to visit Santa.

We were baffled as to why she was freaking out. Come to find out, she thought the Santa we had seen the day before at a store (even though she didn't talk to him or sit in is lap) was the REAL Santa. She doesn't really remember much of last year and the Santa we saw in the store was the first Santa we had seen this year so she thought he was IT.  The mind of a three year old...wow!

Once she walked back over to where Ashton and Santa were, she was good to go. She sat in his lap and told him that she wanted purple drums and did it like a champ. I was so proud of her for getting herself together and for talking to him. Ashton told Santa she wanted a Pink Sony Digital  Camera. He told the girls he wouldn't make any promises but he would see what he could do. He also told them they needed to be good little girls and listen to their mommy and daddy.

As I went over to pay for the Santa picture, Santa called Bobby over and whispered something in is ear. I was so curious to know what their convo was all about. Santa asked Bobby how he got her to calm down and come over to see him. Bobby told him and then Santa said, "Doesn't she know that her sister has been coming to see me since I was at the mall all those years ago?" Bobby and I just about fell over. Really?! Santa remembers seeing Ashton for all these years? With all the millions of kids and parents he sees, he remembers her?  Are you kidding me?! Wow.

Here are the Official Santa Pictures for 2011...

Ashton...9  Landry...3.5  Parker...4  Chase...6 weeks

After we finished with Santa, we stopped outside and got some pictures of the kids together in front of the decorations.

I am so glad that we took the kids to visit Santa together. We had three adults for four kids and that helped make it go much more smoothly. 

We ended the evening by picking up dinner and taking it home to eat it. Auntie Heather and Brodie came over to have dinner and visit. The kids got jammies on and watched a Christmas show. It was the perfect way to end our day!