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?