On Saturday we took the kids to see Santa. One of our neighbors hosts a Santa gathering at her house every year and takes a collection of canned goods for the Ronald McDonald House, which is also in our neighborhood. Tyler has been to this gathering in previous years. It was Emma's first time seeing Santa. Tyler headed for the toys as soon as we walked in, so we took Emma over to see Mr. Claus first. To our surprise, she freaked out when we tried to hand her over. We didn't think she'd entered the "stranger-danger" phase yet!
So, I sat down with her on my lap near Santa so she could warm up to him for a while. Santa was very understanding. He let Emma touch his furry coat and pull the white ball at the tip of his hat. Things seemed to be going well, she was smiling at Santa now, so we tried to set her on Santa's lap again.
She cried!
At first Tyler wasn't so sure about this whole thing, either. Then he remembered he could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, and he perked up. In case you miss it in the video: he's hoping for dinosaurs - BIG ones. Still wouldn't sit on the Jolly Old Fellow's lap, though.
Finally, we sat down on a bench, holding the two kids, and Santa "snuck" in behind us so we could get this shot. Tyler insisted on making his "CHEESE" face... oh well. Good enough for the Christmas cards!
