Pictures with Santa

It's a time honored tradition for many families to take pictures with Santa.

This is E. during his first Christmas. My how time has just flown by.

A couple of years later and we have a less than happy E.

There were no more Santa pictures after that because the kids became shy, would run the other way, and or scream their heads off, making for a really horrible experience. I stopped taking them, UNTIL....

now...

R. asked me specifically if I would take him this year so that he could talk to Santa and "make" sure that he knew exactly what he wanted. That's R. for you. He tends to cover all his basis.

Of course, A. decided he had to tag along too because the bribery of a fun sized kit kat was just too good of a deal to pass up.

As far as E., who think Christmas is all about giving (so he refuses to ask for anything - yeah, he's the saint in our family), he joined the picture only after much begging from Mom.

So we headed out early, on a weekday in hopes of seeing Santa before noon. I thought, perhaps, the wait would be only a couple of hours (that's arriving 2 hours early). After 7.2 hours of waiting (that is NOT an exaggeration) with much reconsideration, my kids got to see and talk to Santa. It was worth the wait. If you are thinking whether or not we actually stood in line for 7.2 hours, we didn't. We got there a couple of hours early, to get a ticket. We shopped, had lunch, went home, and then drove back that evening. Is it worth it?

Look at the picture...that would be a definite yes.

I was able to snag a ton of pictures.

cost to see santa - 7.2 hours of waiting
cost for pictures - $0
cost for experience - priceless

I'm hoping they will do this again for me next year.

Merry Christmas everyone!