Meeting Santa

So for the past 5 years we have seen Santa at the Mall, in Parades, on tv.  We have walked past his house in the mall and stood and watched him every time.  They loved seeing him from a distance and watching all the kids sit on his lap and get their picture taken.  But never have the boys wanted to actually talk to Santa.  Until this year.  

We were at the mall Monday morning getting coffee and a treat so I decided to walk the kids over to look at Santa.  I think this was their first time this year.  We stood and watched a few kids get their pictures taken and then lo and behold, Santa came over to my boys standing at the decorative fence and gave them all high fives.  And suddenly Yoshi wants to go get in line and talk to Santa.  Unfortunately we had to head home because we had friends coming over.  But I told him we could go back in the afternoon.  

So after Little One's nap we put on the boys cutest Christmas shirts and headed to the shopping center.  At 9:45 am it is easy to find a parking spot.  At 4:00 pm I was a little worried I might not find one.  But we eventually found a spot and headed to the big guy's house.  At 9:45 am the line was about 5 kids long.  At 4 pm it was 40 minutes long.  Thankfully I packed my secret weapon for long lines.  Lollipops!   Did you know how many great parenting lessons you can do while standing in a long line.  I got to remind the kids about personal space every time Yoshi bumped into the man in front of him.  We talked about being patient, especially when you are in line to see Santa!  I got to remind them yet again, not to climb on line fences or the fake rock formations around us.  So many fun lessons to learn.  And the whole time I was thinking they were going to chicken out in the end.  I could not imagine that all three would actually sit with Santa.  But they did.  They loved it.  

And more importantly, at least to the grown ups, was that they were all actually looking at the camera at the same time.  Our first picture with Santa!