The Real Santa Experience

This weekend we decided to take the kids to the mall to see Santa. We started off early in the morning, as soon as the kids got up. We stopped at Ruby's Diner first for breakfast and then we shopped for an outfit for Sebastian so he had something formal to wear for the Santa picture. Ava already had several holiday dresses for her picture opportunity with Santa. There's something about having a little girl, their wardrobes are always loaded with "adorable", girly outfits.

We even ran into our neighbor from down the street. Here's a picture of Sara and Sebastian. While we were waiting for Santa's arrival, I was talking with Sara's Mom. She told me that the same Santa has come to this particular mall for years. In fact, they have been bringing Sara to see the same Santa every year since she was a baby. Sara is nine yrs old. Sara's Mom said Santa hasn't changed one bit.


















Here are a few more shots while we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting).

Look, a life size snow globe!


















Ava feeling Daddy's "whiskers"



















and dancing...



















and getting a story read...



















Finally, we got a Santa sighting. Santa was suppose to arrive around 10:30 a.m. He didn't make his appearance unti 10:40. We had been in line since 10:15 a.m. thinking we were the early birds. Boy were we ever wrong. We were probably 25th in line. As he was making his way down the hallway, he greeted all the kids. He was dressed in the old fashion St. Nicholas costume.



















Ava saw Santa coming down the hallway and she remembered she saw Santa at Walmart a few weekends ago and did not exactly warm up to Santa again. Click on the two photos below to zoom in on Ava's face.































By the time we got our turn, it was almost twelve noon. As we inched closer to the end of the line, Ava was still unsure about the whole situation. We weren't allowed to take pictures once the kids got on Santa's lap. I will post the final results in about a week because I don't want to ruin the element of surprise. We are using the final photo as our holiday cards so I don't want to reveal too soon ;-)