Seeking Santa...

Okay, here's the deal...shockingly, I am so far behind on updating the blog...and laundry...and Christmas shopping...and Christmas cards...and house cleaning...you get the idea...that I have officially lapped myself. That is my new motto, and I'm thinking of getting it made into a t-shirt. Anyway, I have all these adorable, funny pictures to share and no time in which to put them on my blog, so I am skipping ahead to share my latest pictures...our annual trip to see Santa Claus.

I am all about tradition at Christmas. One of my favorite traditions is taking the kids to see Santa. I have informed my children that no matter how old they are, Mommy WILL get her picture of her kids with Santa EVERY YEAR. The belly-aching started a couple of years ago during Mindy's pre-teen years. Thankfully, she has worked through her issues and accepts her fate. Many years ago, we discovered the Santa at Nordstrom's downtown. He ROCKED! He was the greatest Santa I had ever seen, so much so that even I believed he might be the real Santa! He was never in a rush and talked to each of the kids about what they wanted for Christmas. For several years, we trekked downtown to see him. Then the unthinkable happened. Nordstrom's cancelled Santa. One year he just wasn't there. I was devastated. How could they just do away with MY Santa??!! Since then, we've found Santas that meet the minimum criteria (at least 60 years old, pleasingly plump and possessing a real beard...a right jolly old elf, if you will...you might laugh, but one year we had a Santa that was MAYBE 25, skinny as a rail and wearing a fake beard), but none were like my "real" Santa. This year, a friend of mine called to tell me she had located the "real" Santa! He was working in a mall west of town, about 40 miles away. I couldn't talk Jon into driving that far, so I settled for last year's Santa at another mall closer to home.

We stopped for lunch at Panda Express, our absolute favorite Chinese restaurant, and arrived at the mall in time for a 30-minute Santa break. Apparently, he had to go feed his reindeer. So we waited a total of about 40 minutes for our turn. I was less than pleased with our experience. Santa barely uttered a word. Frankly, I think he needed to take a nap, instead of feed his reindeer. We paid extra for a photo cd, and they took one not-so-great picture of all four of the kids. The picture I posted was one I took on my camera. Moral of the story? It might just be worth the drive to see the "real" Santa next year.

I have been looking forward to taking Caroline to see Santa for WEEKS! She does the most hilarous impression of Santa. I know my other kids did it, but it is just so stinking cute! She even holds her belly as she gives a hearty, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" She picked up on the Santa thing in a book a couple of months ago, and she thinks everyone with a beard is Santa. I was really thinking she would have a ball "talking" to Santa. Yeah, not so much...

You can't tell in the photo, but Caroline's bow matches Clarise's bow on her shirt, and Rudolph's nose lights up when she moves.

TOO CUTE!

Oh, and the boots are her new fashion footwear of choice.

The funny thing is that I wouldn't have pegged Caroline as one to be afraid of Santa. She's not afraid of much, including strangers. Mindy and Mickey were never afraid. Abby, on the other hand, was in serious need of therapy until the age of three. Her first Christmas she was nine months old, and she just looked at us like we had lost our minds when we sat her on his lap. The next Christmas, however, she was clearly terrified, as evidenced by the fact that I am in the Santa picture, catching her as she hurled herself off his lap, screaming her bloody head off. It didn't go much better the next year. I remember being irritated at the time. Now I think it's just plain hilarious, and that's one of my favorite pictures! Abby's Santa phobia transferred to every single costumed character we encountered. The mere mention of Santa would send her into hysterics. I was seriously concerned that she would be traumatized by our trip to the Magic Kingdom when she was just shy of three years old. Amazingly enough, Tigger was too irresistible, and from then on, she was all about getting autographs from the costumed characters. As Christmas approached that year, we started talking about Santa and how nice it was that he brought gifts for us while we were sleeping on Christmas Eve. As if it were yesterday, I can clearly hear her saying, "I don't want him in my WOOM!" She did sit on his lap that year, though...

Mickey checked his list over thoroughly as we waited in line.

How did all those big-ticket items get on that list?!

By the way, we do teach our children the real meaning of Christmas...