Visit to Santa

I've been away from high speed internet for 5 days, but I survived! Now that I'm back home for a couple of days, I wanted to share about Addison's visit to see Santa Claus.

What an eventful day that was...not the best day to pick. Friday afternoon before Christmas when it was freezing cold and pouring down rain. I was crazy that day (as usual) and forgot to bring the good stroller, got soaking wet, and we were hungry when we got there. Lucky for me, Krista, Kevin, and Landon Pendley (Addison's second family a.k.a. daytime babysitters and our friends) were meeting us there and they came to my rescue. Addison and I ate and talked with The Pendleys until time to go see Santa!

The line to see Santa was short (thankfully) and we stepped up to the price menu to pick out the best deal. Who knew Santa pictures were so pricey?? Last year we did the free Bass Pro Shop pic, which I highly recommend, except the line is always extremely long. Anyway, one of Santa's "elves" gave us the scoop on the 5x7 and cd deal which meant you could print all the pictures you want and you get another 5x7 free. Score!

As we waited in line, I showed Addison Santa. She looked at him curiously and said "Santa Caus" and "Ho, Ho, Ho". As you can see in the picture, the Santa at the Rock Hill Galleria is quite a wonderful Santa. He has the real beard and everything! As we walked up, Addison was giving him the once-over, just checking him out. Between jolly "Ho, Ho, Ho's", Santa advised that I may want to wait until the last second to put her on his lap so that they could snap a good picture quickly before she starts crying. I said okay, and proceeded to hold her while I talked to Addison about Santa. We showed him her Rudolph and he really liked that. I gave Santa high-five and asked Addison to give him one too. She cautiously did, and from that moment on, she was Santa's girl.

I put her in his lap and she was in awe. She didn't want to get down. She sat there for at least 30 minutes as we took her picture, chose a picture and paid for it. Then, Landon wasn't too hip on the Santa, so Addison stayed on his lap through Landon's picture too. She had a ball. When I finally got her down, she walked away slowly, while looking back and pointing, saying "Santa Caus" and "Ho Ho Ho". It was so cute! So the dreary, exhausting trip to the mall was worth it after all.