Santa! I Know Him!

It's just not the Christmas season without watching Elf at least once, am I right??  Too bad all of our DVDs, Christmas ones included, are in a pod somewhere being stored away! Guess I'll just have to watch everything on TV this year.

Last year I found out that you can make a reservation to meet Santa at our local mall.  Being 9 months old the girls really cared less about meeting the Big Guy but we had to do it since it was their first Christmas!  You can see last year's photos here!  So this year I decided to do the same thing and we went the day before Thanksgiving, figuring there wouldn't be much of a crowd.  I made the reservation and we showed up about 15mins early.  They let a few reservations go ahead of us because we were early, which was fine, and then the internet crashed.  So we waited a little longer, pushing the girls around in the stroller to keep them happy, and then one of Santa's elves told us that the internet was up and running and it was our turn!  We got the girls out of the stroller, fixed their clothes, sat them on Santa's lap, and was told the internet wasn't working again....ugh!  So Santa let them down and they ran around his workshop while we waited for the internet to come back.  We were going to put them back in the stroller but they both firmly told us "No!" so we just walked after them.  Santa was really nice about it and kept giving the girls high-fives and talking to us.  Finally, Santa's elf said the internet was working again and that he was ready, so we sat the girls on Santa's lap.  They sat there for about 30 seconds while the elf got the camera ready (insert eye roll here because he was NOT ready like he said he was!) and then Noelle lost it.  She has been working on a molar coming through, she didn't nap super well, and the elf was taking his sweet time!  So most of the photos have her crying in them but not because she was afraid of Santa, she had just lost her patience with the whole ordeal.

We got the pictures taken, girls back in the stroller, calmed Noelle down, and we went to review the pictures only to find that the people before us had their pictures merged with ours.  So we could still get our pictures but we would also have someone else's pictures in with ours.  The elves offered a retake so I took them up on it thinking maybe Noelle would cooperate for a few seconds before getting upset....I was wrong.  She cried, Natalie was indifferent, and we finally chose our picture to print and left as fast as possible!

Due to an internet glitch I was able to get all of the pictures so here you go!

 

This one might be my favorite, one crying and one cheesin!

 

This is the one I had printed because at least all three of them were looking at the camera.

 

Santa was a trooper and didn't seem to mind that Noelle was crying her head off.  Thanks Santa!

We Met Santa!

The day before Thanksgiving Ben and I took the girls to meet Santa for the first time!  We were actually able to make a reservation at our local mall which I jumped on.  A shorter line to wait in with two babies? Yes please!  When we got there, there was actually no line at all but it was packed when we left the mall! 


We weren't quite sure what to expect with the girls...they don't seem to have stranger anxiety and they love facial hair, so we thought maybe they would love Santa.  We handed them over and they just sat...and stared...and petted his beard a few times, but no smiles, no tears, nothing!  I was kind of disappointed that they didn't react at all.  Oh well.  I figure next year will be the year where they either laugh or scream!  As we left, a mom came up with what looked like a 4yr old girl and 2yr old twin girls.  The 4yr old hopped right up but the twins clung to their mom and wouldn't let go!  I think that will be our next year.

I don't know why the pictures loaded sideways...the files are the correct orientation but I can't figure out how to turn the pictures.  Just turn your head I guess!