Speaking Of Santa

I guess the reason that I am not too worried about Callie being scared of Santa is because that is a tradition that has gone a little by the wayside. When Kellen was born we made a huge production about going to see Santa. He was nine months old. I don't think he really cared. But, that was what you are supposed to do, right?

Can you tell how thrilled he is to be visiting Santa?

Next year, new Santa, still just as thrilled!

I can't find all of our Santa pictures. Can't imagine why! But this picture is when Kellen is four and Garrett is twenty months.

Year after year it got to be more trouble to go see Santa. Daddy got busier and busier, so he couldn't go. We moved, and moved, and moved. So, you never know where a good Santa's helper is. The real Santa is, as everyone I am sure knows, at Quail Springs Mall in Oklahoma City. He is the Santa in the first picture with Kellen. Notice how he doesn't wear his "real" suit. He doesn't want to get it messed up for the big night!

One year when it was just Kellen and Garrett, we decided to take them to Eastland Mall in Tulsa. It is a small mall so we decided it would not be crowded. It wasn't. We were soon to find out why. The "Santa" complained to his elf the entire time about how his paycheck wasn't right. The picture the his elf snapped shows Santa looking over to the left at his paycheck. Seriously. I really wish I could find that picture. Todd and I laughed and laughed! I think this was the beginning of the end for our Santa adventures.

After we moved to Iowa, we decided to visit the Festival of The Trees. Tons of decorated trees. They advertised a kids area and Santa pictures. Sounded good to us. I dressed the boys up, thinking there might be a photo op for our Christmas cards. While there were a lot of pretty trees, they weren't really set up for photos with people. Thank goodness. The nice Santa there gave the boys his autograph. On their hands. With a Sharpie. Hello, Santa, Sharpie's are permanent! We had Santa's autograph for a week!

So, we haven't been to see Santa since. Call me Scrooge. There are just other things I would rather spend my time doing than waiting in line to see a random dressed up Santa. We did go see a reindeer at a greenhouse in Iowa. The kids were much more thrilled with that!

Do you have many traditions? Things that you have to do every year or it is not Christmas? We are ending up with fewer and fewer. There are too many things that are not possible when you are in a different place every year! I do enjoy doing a Christmas card every year. I enjoy driving around as a family and looking at Christmas lights. I enjoy our trees, which are about the same every year. I enjoy Santa coming and the kids opening gifts on Christmas morning. These are things we do as our little family every year. Things that don't matter where we live. We'll see what kind of new things we can find to add to our list here in Missouri!