A Visit with the Fat Man

We took Leah and Hunter to see Santa for the first time. Our initial attempt this season was unsuccessful; we happened to time it for Santa's break, and considering the sheer number of kids in the play area next to Santa's station in addition to where we were in his break (at the beginning of it), we decided to try again the next day.

So, Tuesday morning (last week), despite the steady snowfall outside, we again headed to the mall in the hopes of meeting St. Nick (or at least his helper). We hadn't told the kids what we were going to do; we wanted to surprise them. So when we returned to the same place as the night before, they were a bit disappointed... until we took a few more steps and asked, "Who's that over there?" "Santa!" came the excited reply.

The timing was perfect: absolutely no line, no waiting. As the kids were getting ready to approach, Leah turned to me saying, "I'm feeling a little shy. Don't leave me, Mommy," so I accompanied her and Hunter and helped them get situated on Santa's lap (but not before Leah suddenly overcame her shyness and gave Santa a big hug). I don't think the kids ever really told Santa what they wanted, not because Santa didn't try, but because he was trying to get them to smile and put them at ease. Hunter didn't smile much; he was so serious (though he's not a serious boy), but Leah was all smiles.

Now the bigger challenge is communicating that Santa isn't, well, you know, real. We don't celebrate Santa, even though we do like to talk about him and how he's fun to pretend, but Leah informed me the other night that Santa's going to bring her lots of toys for Christmas and fill her stocking. Hmmm, how do we combat this challenge?

November Mornings (Photos)

We had a lot of smoothies for breakfast in November. What does that mean? Plenty of smoothie mustache pictures!

Hunter had to one up Leah by adding the smoothie eyebrow, too.

Look at that mustache!

And after breakfast, a little fun in mommy's robe. Presenting the two-headed monster!

Christmas Spirit

In lieu of Black Friday shopping, we spent the day decorating for Christmas. Much more fun, especially with my two little elves. They were thrilled to help, especially when they found "their" decorations (trees for their rooms, stuffed animals to play with).

Their excitement carried over to the next day when Scott brought home a tree. We couldn't decorate it until after dinner, so the kids entertained themselves in an effort to wait patiently for me to finish a few things in the kitchen. And just what did they do? Why, they played Santa, of course!

Leah converted the baby doll stroller into a sleigh, attached a couple of "reindeer", and place the Hunter in the "sleigh" before pushing him along the floor. I'm still not sure which one was Santa, though.

Finally, it was time to decorate the tree. Ahhh, every parent knows what that's like! We cranked up the Christmas music, unloaded the ornaments, and let the kids have at it. My heart still warms at the memory of the sight of Leah and Hunter piling all of the ornaments in one or two sections on the lower branches, then adding even more, despite the boughs touching the floor, or the memory of Leah moving her cat ornament next to a pink light, or that of Hunter asking me to take the hook off his John Deere tractor ornament so that he could play with it (FYI he's now added that to his toy collection). Ahhhh, the joy of Christmas through my children's eyes. What a blessing!