A visit to see Santa

I cannot believe its been OVER a month since my last blog....oops. We've had a busy month, to be sure, with activities and holidays and illnesses and the chaos and fun of everyday life.

Yesterday we took Sarah and Timothy to see Santa at the mall. Regardless of where you fall in the spectrum of dealing with the "Santa Issue" (because that's not what this post is about) our family does make Santa a part of our Christmas and we do play make believe with our children about Santa. So yesterday was the big visit since we knew the "REAL" Santa would be at our mall. This requires some detective work on our part since there are two Santa's that work this mall and one is skinny and the other is not. We wanted to see the more robust Santa. Once we knew he was there we headed off to see him.....

He was on a break feeding the reindeer when we arrived so we did some looking around and then headed back and were first in line when he returned. One of the things I like about this Santa is that he really seems to enjoy the job and wants to make the visit special for the kids. He approached from the back of the line and talked and hugged the kids in line and then shook hands with even my big boys. Tim was DELIGHTED. Timothy sat with Sarah on Santa's lap and talked for a bit....no rushing the kids off even after the picture was taken. And the best part, which chokes me up every time, and brings me back year after year to this same Santa, is that he catches on about Sarah but handles it perfectly and then signs and says "Santa loves you, Sarah" to her when we leave. Precious.

I figure I have one year, two tops, before Timothy keys in but for now...I'm lovin' every minute of it and so are they!