Our First Visit to See Santa...

Alexander had his first visit with Santa Claus this afternoon and it went well even though in the picture he looks scared to death...and a bit chunky.

The original plan was that we were going to go to Edaville Railroad to see the lights & Santa there. My parents took us to Edaville every year when we were kids and I want to continue that tradition with Alexander. However, it was supposed to be really cold and the fact that he would fully understand the lights or Santa, we opted for a warmer, closer visit.

So Alexander, myself, Grammie & Alyson went to visit Santa at the new collection.

Santa was to arrive at the mall at noon, so we decided to get there a bit early to avoid lines. Boy, was that a good idea! There were already 3/4 families in line when we got there and by the time Santa arrived, the line was already wrapped around Santa's village. Once they snap the pictures, they move along quite fast, but man... there were a lot of people there looking to see Santa.

Once Alexander saw Santa he was mesmerized. He couldn't stop staring at him. He didn't seem freaked out but he couldn't stop staring. This was a good Santa, he would wave and wink at the kids instead of just sitting down waiting to begin the day. Santa waved a bit with Alexander and he just kept staring back. Of course, Mommy was in a small sweat and forgot to take out the camera at this point. (Mommy has a thing for people in costumes...)

It was our turn to visit with Santa! I was holding Alexander and ready to give him to Santa. Usually Alexander will hold out his arms to go to someone and although he didn't turn away, you could tell he was checking out the scene. He didn't immediately go see Santa, as I had to lean in with him first. (Of course while I'm doing this, I'm trying not to freak out myself...damn clowns) Alexander sat with Santa but didn't look at him at all. He just looked straight with his "duuuuuhhhh" face that he likes to make for pictures. We even had the piano which makes him laugh/smile and nothing... Oh well...at least he didn't cry.

As I mentioned, we were in the front of the line so we were done by 12:15pm - quick. We couldn't get over the price of pictures for what you get in a "package" but it was his first visit to see Santa, we couldn't resist getting a momento. He also got a package of crayons and a Holiday activity book, but we'll save that for later.

Ho Ho Ho!